Wednesday, August 26, 2009

[EQ] Life long learning and physician revalidation in Europe

Life long learning and physician revalidation in Europe

 

Summer 2009 Volume 11, Number 2

The Health Policy Bulletin of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

 

The Observatory is a partnership between the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Governments of Belgium, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

 

Available online PDF [12p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/Document/Obs/EuroObserver_summer2009.pdf

 

 

Contents

- Life long learning and physician revalidation in Europe


- Revalidation of the medical profession in Germany

 

- Physician revalidation in the United Kingdom


- Physician revalidation in Austria


- Revalidation of  doctors in France

 

 

Life long learning and physician revalidation in Europe

Philipa Mladovsky, Sherry Merkur, Elias Mossialos and Martin McKee


“…It is increasingly accepted that the completion of undergraduate medical education is only the first step in a process of life long learning for physicians. At its simplest, life long learning involves participation in continuing medical education (CME), designed to keep physicians up-to-date on clinical developments and medical knowledge.

 

The broader concept of continuing professional development (CPD) includes CME along with the development of personal, social and managerial skills. More demanding methods incorporate other tools such as peer review, external evaluation and practice inspection. The outcome of these processes may be recertification or relicensure, although this is rarely the case in Europe.

 

Few countries require that physicians demonstrate explicitly that they remain fit to practice. The term ‘revalidation’ was coined by the General Medical Council (GMC) in the United Kingdom (UK), where it was defined as an “evaluation of a medical practitioner’s fitness to practise”.1 Although this definition focuses on assessment, it is recognized that the process leading up to it should be formative, encouraging professional development as well as identifying those unfit to practice.

 

Revalidation is thus one element within a larger system that has three objectives:

- to provide a system of professional accountability;

- to ensure that basic standards of care do not fall below acceptable standards; and

- to promote continuing improvements in quality of care.


Drawing on a recently published policy brief and article3,4 we discuss contextual factors influencing the choice of approach to revalidation, potential policy approaches, evidence relating to the different technical methods and some implementation options…..”

 

 

Related Links:

Merkur S, Mladovsky P, Mossialos E,

McKee M. Do Lifelong Learning and Revalidation Ensure that Physicians are Fit to Practise? Policy Brief: Health Systems

and Policy Analysis. Copenhagen: World Health Organization, on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, 2008.

PDF [33p.] at http://www.euro.who.int/document/hsm/9_hsc08_epb_12.pdf

 

 

Merkur S, Mossialos E, Long M, McKee M. Physician revalidation in Europe. Clinical Medicine 2008;8:371–76.

PDF [9p.] at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22232/1/Physician_revalidation_in_Europe(LSERO).pdf

 

 


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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate

information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic

health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;

Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings

and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American

Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
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[EQ] Intellectual property and Drug Discovery: Implications for Access, Quality, and Value

Intellectual property and Drug Discovery: Implications for Access, Quality, and Value

Expert Review Of Drug Patent Applications: Improving Health In The Developing World
Tahir Amin, Rahul Rajkumar, Priti Radhakrishnan, and Aaron S. Kesselheim

A Trade Agreement’s Impact On Access To Generic Drugs
Ellen R. Shaffer and Joseph E. Brenner

Global Drug Discovery: Europe Is Ahead
Donald W. Light

Expert Review of Drug Patent Applications: Improving Health In The Developing World

 

Tahir Amin 1, Rahul Rajkumar 2, Priti Radhakrishnan 3, Aaron S. Kesselheim 4*

1 Tahir Amin is a codirector of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge in Lewes, Delaware.

2 Priti Radhakrishnan is a codirector of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge in Lewes, Delaware.

3 Rahul Rajkumar is an associate physician at Brighamand Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

4 Aaron Kesselheim is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, in the division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, at Brigham and Women's Hospital.


Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.w948

(Published online August 25, 2009)

 

Available online at:  http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.5.w948/DC1

 

“…..Many developing countries have enacted intellectual property laws allowing patents on pharmaceutical products. These countries now must figure out how to provide legitimate protection of innovative discoveries while avoiding drug patents that do not conform to their laws. Using case-study examples, including the antiretroviral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF, or Viread), we demonstrate the importance of having outside experts participate in the review of drug patents. Vibrant patent review systems require sharing information among developing countries and active consultation with local public health authorities…..”
[Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(5):w948-56 (published online 25 August 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.w948)]

 

 

 

Europe Expands Lead Over The United States In Pharmaceutical Research Productivity

 

Bethesda MD - It is widely believed that the United States has eclipsed Europe in pharmaceutical research productivity. However, a comprehensive data set of all new chemical entities approved between 1982 and 2003 shows that the U.S. never overtook Europe in research productivity, and in fact Europe is pulling further ahead, according to a study published today on the Health Affairs Web site Donald Light, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Lokey visiting professor at Stanford.

 

The study is one of three released  by Health Affairs dealing with prescription drugs and intellectual property. In a second study, researchers document for the first time that trade rules reduce access to generic drugs in a low-income country. In Guatemala, some generics have been withdrawn from the market while others have been denied entry altogether due to intellectual property rules contained in the Central American Free Trade Agreement, say Ellen Shaffer and Joseph Brenner, co-directors of the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health.

 

In a final study, researchers analyze the role outside experts can play in pre-grant and post-grant review of pharmaceutical patents in developing countries. Tahir Amin, a co-director of I-MAK, the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge, and coauthors conclude that public health is best served by allowing outside experts - members of the public apart from the inventor and examiners in the patent office - to challenge patent applications before they are granted.

 

You can read the article by Amin and coauthors at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.5.w948

 

You can read the article by Shaffer and Brenner at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.5.w957

 

You can read the article by Light at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.5.w969

 


Health Affairs is pleased to make this article freely accessible for two weeks.

 

 

 

 


*      *      *     *
This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate

information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic

health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;

Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings

and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American

Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO website: http://66.101.212.219/equity/

Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
Twitter http://twitter.com/eqpaho

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.