The EYFDM Being Young Staying Young Award is a prestigious award that recognises an individual who over a prolonged period of time had made a valuable and key contribution to EYFDM (previously VdGM).
The recipient should be a senior doctor who has contributed and influenced the development of EYFDM, and also epitomizes, espouses and evokes in others the youthful mindset which characterises and underpins the heart, soul and ethos of EYFDM.
The nominator should be a young doctor.
Important dates
Nominations should be sent to the Awards&Fundraising officer by 10th of December 2023. The winner of the BYSY Award will be:
informed about the results by the 20th of December 2023.
announced during the 8th EYFDM Forum in Vienna (12-13th April 2024).
Apply for the WONCA Europe Scholarship that supports academic and professional journeys.
Deadline: November 15, 2023.
4 years
2000€/year
Start: January 1, 2024
“The WONCA Europe Scholarship Committee is excited to invite outstanding individuals to apply for the WONCA Europe Scholarship. This scholarship is meant to support and encourage two exceptional candidates in their academic and professional journeys. The scholarship lasts for up to four years and provides €2000 each year to help scholars with their studies and career development. The scholarship program starts on January 1, 2024. For more details on how to apply and candidate requirements, please see the attached document. Applicants are required to submit their scholarship applications no later than November 15, 2023. We are looking forward to receive your applications and help you achieve your academic and professional goals.
Kind regards, Prof. Dr. Shlomo Vinker WONCA Europe President”
Review the 7th collaborative webinar on the WONCA YDM – WP/SIG series and review the highlights that included EM US, Aggressive/Difficult patient and Primary Care Emergency Room.
Share this great knowledge with friends and colleagues!
Join WONCA Special Interest Group on Emergency Medicine:
Apply now, and until 12th of November, for bursaries to attend the 8th EYFDM Forum!
All the documents must be sent to the awards@eyfdm.eu by the 12th of November. The applicants will be informed about the results through emails by the 17th of December.
The refund can cover:
registration fee for the EYFDM Forum Vienna 2024
the cost of flight tickets/ train tickets to EYFDM Forum Vienna 2024
the cost of accommodation during EYFDM Forum Vienna 2024
Join the webinar, next Sunday, organised by EYFDM in collaboration with Emergency Medicine SIG were we’ll talk about EM Ultrasound, Aggressive Patient and Difficult Patient and Primary Care Emergency Room.
This is the seventh webinar organised in the collaborative webinar series between WONCA Young Doctors Movements and Working Parties/ Special Interest Groups.
Family Medicine is at its core a continuum of care – provided to individuals and their families throughout their life cycles, right in their communities. This wide scope of action, and closeness, is what makes Family Medicine unique compared with other medical specialties.
Family medicine is at the heart of healthcare, integrating knowledge from different levels of expertise and advocating for patients’ best interests, whilst communicating with them in a close and ongoing conversation.
The celebration of World Family Doctor’s Day is an opportunity for reflection. We strive daily for high quality Family Medicine which is both equitable and sustainable. Family Doctors endure demanding working conditions, and their work-life balance is often negatively affected. The wellbeing of those providing care needs to be advocated for, and given the same priority as technical expertise and up-to-date scientific knowledge.
As the European Young Family Doctors’ Movement, we believe that balanced individuals are an essential component of sustainable health systems.
A Return to Family Medicine for a day
Nick Mamo
For the last year and a half (or so) I’ve been focused on research full-time. Which has meant that, for the most part, I’ve been away from family medicine work.
Back in April, as part of the pre-conference exchange organised by LOVAH (De Landelijke Organisatie van Aspirant Huisartsen – the Dutch Family Medicine Residents’ Association) I spent a day in a Dutch GP practice, to get a sense of what the work is like in the Netherlands. I was sitting in with Erik, a great Family Doctor – I could see throughout the whole day how much he was appreciated, and the effort he put into his work.
This day reminded me what I love about being a family doctor. From the first person to walk through the door, right until the end, complete with a lunchtime walk in the sun enjoying the green grounds around the practice, it was pure, unadulterated Family Medicine.
The first person we see, although coming in to discuss his neck pain, soon burst into tears – he is finding caring for his ill wife very challenging. So, we listen and offer support. And finally, almost comically, we deal with his neck pain.
We have a coffee break with the practice team – a warm environment with one of the team-members jokingly admonishing Erik for not offering me a cup of coffee straight away.
Before lunch, we go on a house call to see a patient with ALS. The gentleman’s daughter sits close by, ready to help out if needed. His son comes in after some time, about to go out and chats a bit with his dad and with the doctor. They know each other well, and the doctor checks in with how things have been going. The gentleman we have come to see has already given us updates about pretty much the whole family.
In the afternoon, we see a gentleman with his partner. As he walks in, he clearly has complex and longstanding medical issues in spite of his young age. The first thing Erik does is apologise profusely – he won’t be able to attend their wedding, but he congratulates them warmly. It is clear throughout the consultation that there is a good relationship from both the patient and his fiancée with Dr Teunissen. The patient’s fiancée is very caring and involved in his care, and the three of them discuss the condition and the management together. During the consultation the GP also congratulates the patient’s fiancée on her weight loss – she has clearly been working on this and she is very proud of her achievements. They also discuss what she should do for prenatal health – they want to start trying for a baby as soon as they are married.
While the Family Doctor is doing some admin tasks, we also discuss a case he is dealing with of a young woman with complex mental and physical health issues, having to coordinate care with lots of different specialists as well as social care. We also discuss the case of an old man with complex palliative care needs: the challenges of dealing with death and supporting families through this process.
Of course, we also see a patient with a UTI, and we do some minor surgery, during which we also have a chat with the patient about his home situation and the challenges he is facing there…
To any family doctor, this seems a rather normal day, and I think it is good to take a moment and reflect on the variety and complexity of the cases we deal with.
For me, however, this day reminded me that the Family Doctor truly is the Heart of Healthcare – on so many levels.
We are the heart of care through being the main contact, coordinating care, liaising, referring, investigating…from the beginning of life right up to the end. We advocate for our patients whether it is by challenging them to take better care of themselves, or by speaking to other healthcare professionals, social care or others, to get what is needed. We are there for the whole family.
And we are the heart by providing an empathetic, personal ear for people to turn to – to share their challenges and seek advice, but also to share their joys.
This year we want to make a special mention to all those women who suffer daily the consequences of their environment. Those women who pay the consequences of living in disadvantage. It can be war, can be peace. It can be north or south, east to west.
Those women for whom society has thought silence is the best treat to receive. Those women who are deprived of power of decision, of voice. Those who cannot vote. Those women who are not allowed to speak for themselves. Those women whose opinion is not taken into consideration.
Despite women being briefly half of the world population, we are still considered a minority.
But we can change that. We can raise our voices together and fight for equity. That gap that we try to close daily can be smaller tomorrow.
We, as doctors, have the exquisite privilege of sharing our opinion and this can be listened to.
We do celebrate Women’s Day. And we want to keep celebrating every eighth of March. For us, for them and for the ones who are to come.
