International Virtual Conference on "Family Medicine"

Yesterday evening (Thursday) 26 November, the work of the “Fifth International Conference on Family Medicine” held by the International Medical Center in Jeddah, represented by the Department of Family Medicine, was concluded with strong and distinguished partnerships that included many international and local scientific organizations and societies, foremost of which is the Society The Saudi Family and Society Medicine, the International Organization of Family Physicians (WONCA), the Cooperative Health Insurance Council, the Saudi Health Council, the Scientific Council for Family Medicine at the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, the Saudi Evidence-Based Health Care Association, and the Joint Program for Family and Community Medicine in Jeddah. This was stated to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Chairman of the Conference, Consultant Family Medicine Professor Dr. Ashraf Abdul Gayoom Amir, stressing that this conference has achieved great successes in serving doctors and specialists in the field of family and community medicine, not only in the Kingdom, but also at the level of the GCC countries. Gulf and many Arab countries, through 42 scientific and research working papers presented by professors and scientists from inside and outside the Kingdom, which dealt with a range of issues and topics related to the future of family medicine locally and internationally and the role of the family doctor in developing the primary health care system, and the transition to a health system that deals with health care Based on value and impact, and new in prevention and treatment methodologies for many diseases and physical and psychological health problems during the "Covid-19" pandemic.

Clinical success

In this topic, we will present two important aspects One is for a local speaker on the secret of the success of a clinical practice, and the other for a global speaker on the challenges and responsibilities of a family practitioner during the pandemic and beyond.

Professor Ashraf Amir spoke at the conference, and explained the urgent need to humanize the health system, which is based on humanity, and in our modern era it has seen a lot of lukewarmness and coldness in managing human feelings and emotions that connect the patient with his doctor in a balanced healthy relationship that makes the meeting of the two parties an intimate and rich meeting . This is clearly evident in the medical consultation when the patient meets his doctor, despite the fact that the physical distance that separates them does not exceed a few centimeters, the emotional distance between the two parties may extend to several miles due to the doctor’s preoccupation with his patient from seeing and staring at the computer screen, without lending the patient some interest in voyeurism Look at him and talk to him.

He answered the question that baffles many doctors and does not find a satisfactory answer to it, which is: Why does their treatment plan not succeed in controlling diseases in chronic disease patients, despite making every effort to prescribe effective treatment and use the most sophisticated and sophisticated treatment techniques? He explained that the answer lies with those who dive into the depths of the problem and analyze the incident, finding that the treatment of the patient is not only physical, but also mind, body and spirit. The health system based on the physical treatment of the patient lacks a holistic and integrated treatment that achieves complete health and complete wellness. Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of physical, psychological, social and spiritual integration and not merely freedom from disease or disability.

Here, Professor Ashraf Amir stresses the necessity for the doctor to add to his clinical skills as well as to touch these aspects and highlight compassion, kindness and compassion to make the rigid doctor a sensitive person who interacts with his patient to feel his needs and live his suffering, and then provide the patient what he needs in terms of help and support.

He also stressed the need for the doctor to develop his skills in communicating and interacting with the patient, whether the communication is verbal by ing words and vocabulary or non-verbal using the language of features and the body.

Corona pandemic

As for the challenges and responsibilities of family doctors in light of the Corona pandemic, Professor Jinan Usta, President of the International Organization of Family Physicians (WONCA) in the Eastern Mediterranean region spoke at the conference.

About a year ago, this pandemic brought about various changes to the countries of the world that became a standard by which countries measure how they were and how human life became before and after the Corona pandemic. Inevitably, it has changed a lot in our lives, in the way of shaking hands, talking, holding meetings and meetings "remotely", and even education has become virtual in many countries of the world.

As for the health sector, this pandemic has weighed on its shoulders, as outpatient clinics and elective surgeries are no longer what they used to be, and support for remote areas has stopped after being burdened by circumstances and difficulties, and the care system has shifted from interactive curative care to preventive, educational and promotional care that depends on the multifaceted community. The root cause of death has shifted to a methodology based on the inclusion and knowledge of the basic causes of life and the survival of good health and lasting health on the back of this planet. Therefore, there is a clear change in the philosophy of medicine and its outlook on the reality of life.

Challenges

The challenges facing doctors in the first rows of medical edifices have many causes and forms and can be summarized as follows:

> Limited knowledge of the disease itself, which is the emerging corona virus, so what we do not know about this pandemic is more than we know in reality. There was an inability to distinguish clinically accurately between individuals suffering from symptoms of colds, fever, and bronchitis, and individuals who had fallen into the clutches of the Coronavirus pandemic. There is also a lack of knowledge of who will suffer some minor injuries in the respiratory system, and who will have to enter the intensive care unit.

> There was a great challenge crouching in front of us. We saw many healthy people die overnight without warning.

> The time challenge, no one knows how long this pandemic and the social and economic crisis will strike us, when it will end and what is the size of the danger it will leave on the global level. If we knew that it would remain for a few months or a year, we would be able to identify and direct our resources and how to exploit them, but until now we do not know when this pandemic will leave us. The beautiful, heartening news is that the vaccine will soon see the light, and we will harvest its fruits and suffocate this pandemic with it. But we need more than 6 months, or maybe even a year, to see how this pandemic collects its disappointments and leaves forever.

Other challenges lie in the way we practice medicine and clinical practice in particular. There are new ways of working, so we no longer see the patient face-to-face as before. We make decisions about the patient without seeing him or his knowledge, and we rely on watching videos of the patient to make a medical decision for a disease or suffering, and then we prescribe the medicine. The practice of family medicine in ways that distance ourselves from seeing the patient has become inappropriate and inconsistent with the profession of family medicine, in which the trust existing between the doctor and the patient emerges because it is very important. This would affect the relationship between the doctor and the patient and inevitably affect the way the medical profession is practiced, and it also affects the essence of success.

> The acute shortage of basic medical materials, in many countries the doctor has started treating his patients without wearing masks from the doctor and the patient, in addition to the shortage of respirators and preventive tools, and most importantly of all this human element, which is a person with his worth and worth.

> People were terrified and fearful of this pandemic, which gave birth to psychological and emotional problems that weighed on them, in addition to the fact that the closure and the curfew and the closure of borders and isolation have disturbed the emotional and psychological side of many people. We do not lose sight of the extent of this impact on the emotional and moral side and the good handling of patients, so there are different and very critical paths.

> Many medical teams and family doctors, especially those working on the front lines, have been exposed to disease and quarantine, and some of them have died in many countries of the world.

> Other challenges have affected the academic educational aspect. The pandemic has affected the way medical information is provided. Education in medical colleges has become based on the Internet and remote lessons, especially in the pre-clinical years. If we look at the manner in which treatment is provided to patients these days, it will inevitably affect medical graduates, the quality of the doctor, his knowledge and his clinical practice.

> Shifts, working hours and schedules have changed to meet the urgent need for medical care in light of the Corona pandemic.

Responsibilities

One of the things that the medical profession is proud of is that its employees, including "family physicians", have played well-deserved important roles and assumed enormous responsibilities in the difficult times of the pandemic, including the following:

> Family physicians are the soldiers of the first line of defense, the spine, and the nerve of the health care system. One of their most important responsibilities is to determine the diagnosis, specialization, and the appropriate ward in which the patient receives the appropriate treatment with the help of clinical, laboratory and radiological examinations.

> They should reduce the burden on higher medical services and reduce the cost on health care by identifying critical cases or not, and the ability to send the patient home to complete his treatment.

> Protection and prevention, so do not forget the prominent role of family doctors, whether during the spread of the current epidemic or its predecessors from epidemics such as Ebola disease and swine flu, H1N1, which was very similar in its seriousness to the Corona pandemic, and there was no treatment for it.

> The family doctor helps governments in making important decisions, determines resources, and how they can be used and rationalized.

> The family doctor plays a role in non-discrimination in the use of antivirals when they are available, and in a balanced and fair manner, he identifies those who urgently need them and respond to them more than others, after establishing laws, protocols and regulations governing this.

> He plays a role in the monitoring and follow-up process, and being on the front line, he is the first to feel the high number of cases, their importance and the degree of embarrassment in them, and he senses early warning of any renewed cases of serious diseases.

> Discovering new forms of diseases that disappeared for long and returned with a new look.

> Through field visits to patients on a weekly basis, the family doctor can know the level of the wave, whether the Corona virus is increasing or decreasing, and the extent of its symptoms change and comparison with other diseases.

> The role of the family doctor in the prevention and prevention of serious diseases by strengthening the administration of vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine, now, to alleviate the repercussions of colds that require ho