title: Family practice in Turkey.
abstract: The national project 'Transformation in Health' was started in 2005 to provide expert primary care by family physicians, and decrease expenses in Turkey. The number of family physicians was far below the need, so public physicians were promoted to family physician status after a 10-day intensive course. The government declared some satisfactory results, but privately paid family physicians were not accepted into the system. Furthermore, the government stopped paying for their services from private settings. Some family physicians became unemployed as the major payer for all forms of medical care in Turkey denied their services. The process showed it's value in time. Nevertheless, family physicians should be the core of this transformation as family medicine is an academic and a scientific discipline and a primary care-oriented specialty with its own specific educational content, research and base of evidence, which cannot be achieved through standard medical education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey.
authors.forename: Akatli Kursad
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ozsahin
mesh_terms: D017046:Cost Savings / Q000379:methods; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends*; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D014421:Turkey; D019472:Universal Health Insurance / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Education; Transformation in Health; family physician; health promotion; healthcare; primary care