Continuing education for the health team in developing countries

In the third world, continuing or lifetime education for the doctor working in rural areas is not yet available. The priority in continuing education for those providing health care will not be just for the doctors working in rural areas, but rather for the whole health team. Many doctors up-country, find that continuing their education is difficult. Existing forms of undergraduate training have not provided them with the urge to pass their knowledge on to those with whom they work; journals and books are expensive and generally not available. Effective teaching will be the kind in which the whole health team participates, each learning from the other, and all concerned to improve teaching and communication to their patients and the public at large. In this situation perhaps the doctor may be the tutor. Resources will not allow, nor would it be feasible, for the whole team to travel to a Teaching Center; rather the teaching must be taken to them. This teaching involves many media, such as the television, radio, tape-recording, short cassette film, and slides. Experience in this form of teaching has multiplied in many countries. Those teams who were able to bring together the resources available from central government with those generated within the local community and create an effective system of health care unit would be the appropriate resource for the future field training of medical students and other health workers. Organizing such a program will be a useful step towards raising the morale and image of those undertaking work in rural areas.