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History of PRIME?
PRIME originated from a UK group, Doctors Dilemmas, which provides post-graduate education approved (PGEA) courses for UK general practitioners. Started in 1995, these were highly scored by participants. They were recognized by an award for services to medical education from the British Post-graduate Medical Foundation and one received the accolade "The Best Course Ever" in a faculty newsletter of the Royal College of GPs. Sponsorship was offered to doctors from the ex-communist block and Africa to attend and from these contacts, and the growing reputation of the courses, invitations came to offer similar educational activities in Eastern Europe, Russia, North and East Africa and Asia.
Annual bi-national conferences were run in Romania from 1996-99, bringing together British and Romanian doctors for educational programmes.
An expansion of the work and vision came in 2000 when John Geater (now Director of PRIME) and Advisory Board member & fellow tutor Dr Robert Dickie (Associate Adviser in General Practice for Northern Scotland) were invited through the British Council to run post-graduate courses for primary care doctors in North Africa. The success of these led to them being repeated in other parts of the country. Working closely with a group attached to one of the medical schools, activities supported by UNICEF led to the development of a curriculum leading to a Diploma in Specialisation in Family Medicine. We were responsible for running the first trainers' course.
Since then, PRIME has worked in over 30 countries. For instance, in Albania, we have closely cooperated with the Department of Family Medicine in Tirana Medical School in the training programme for family medicine residents and, in partnership with USAid, worked with PHR+ on curricular design and teaching input into GP retraining. In Kenya, PRIME has helped in the formation of the Association of Family Doctors, and at the invitation of the KAGP, been responsible for both the annual symposia that have taken place. In Nepal we are working in several institutions to support the development of Family Medicine, Nurse Training, Mental Health, Palliative Care and Faculty Development.
PRIME continues in a partnership role in the Doctors Dilemmas courses. PRIME tutors have been active in developing whole person elements of the curriculum in medical schools and courses for students. We also run regular Tutor conferences in the UK & Europe in order to share our vision & activities with Tutors & others who share our aims & values.
PRIME is delighted to have participated in the highly rated ICMDA pre-conferences for Healthcare Educators which attracts delegates from around the world. The ICMDA European Conference 2004 held in Krelingen was believed to be the first of its kind any where in the world to focus on the spiritual aspects of generic medical teaching from a Christian perspective. The same world conference in Sydney in 2006, attended by 1200 doctors and students, included the first PRIME led seminar streams and was preceded by a PRIME conference drawing medical teachers from every continent.
PRIME's role continues to expand particularly in the developing world with new training programmes adapted especially to help those working in remote and difficult circumstances. The establishment of an Iberian (Spanish & Portuguese speaking) branch of PRIME will enable work in other parts of Africa and Latin America. A major focus in the years ahead will be the training and equipping of teachers to continue the teaching locally, and the development of distance learning tools.
Further Information
What is PRIME? PDF
PRIME Modules PDF
"The system looked on patients as machines; only useful as long as they could be repaired" Serbian GP
PRIME is a registered Charity in the UK. Charity Registration Number: 1111521. Registered Office:
25 St Helen's Down, Hastings, East Sussex. TN34 2BG.
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