ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 281
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
A
B
C
The global family medicine workforce: Ensuring positive
inputs and avoiding ‘brain drain’
E/Prof Amanda Howe1, Dr Steve Mowle2
D
E
F
G
H
I
1
WONCA Special Interest Group on Policy Advocacy, 2RCGP
Family doctors all over the world are aware of the tensions in our workforce. Issues of where we sit
in our country’s health system, whether we have to do postgraduate training to practise as a family
doctor, the status of our discipline or the financial and professional rewards we receive for our work
can influence whether people choose to be family doctors – and whether they remain in this role for
their working lifetime. On top of this, family doctors can be drawn out of a country by perceived gains
of working elsewhere – and some actively recruit doctors from other countries.
There are many good reasons to visit or spend some time in another country, and WONCA
encourages some models of how to do this, a long-term or permanent loss of doctors can further
increase health inequalities and weaken the healthcare of some countries. This forum therefore
focuses on:
•
J
•
K
some examples of the current flux of the FM/GP workforce – from Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe
and IberoAmerica
debating what models of international workforce movement can be deemed ethical and
restorative, and which are potentially actively damaging.
Format would be to present workforce figures from all other countries – and then focus discussion on
what should WONCA members be doing to address the tensions between welcoming and needing
good doctors from any country to enter general practice versus the potential increasing impacts on
workforce inequalities.
The aim is to raise awareness, add to existing knowledge and potentially to help delegates be more
able to choose positive ways to gain international experience without allowing this to be to the
disadvantage of other colleagues and settings.
279