China Connections

Under the leadership of Ken Kushner, PhD and Cindy Haq, MD the Department of Family Medicine has started a formal relationship with FuXing Hospital in Beijing, China. The relationship will include faculty exchanges and opportunities for faculty/residents/medical students to obtain training in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

In October 2004, two Chinese physicians from FuXing Hospital participated in the DFM's International Fellowship. In December 2004, Ken Kushner, PhD, Melissa Stiles, MD, Kathleen Walsh, MD (The Monroe Clinic), and Dean Funk, MD (Park Falls Marshfield Clinic) traveled to Beijing. The four clinicians toured FuXing Hospital, affiliated clinics and a nursing home. They also visited Capitol University Medical Sciences and took part in a seminar with faculty and medical students. The highlight of the trip was participating in the 2004 Beijing Symposium on Family Medicine and Community Health Services. Over 200 physicians from 16 different provinces participated in the conference. David Rakel, MD and Adam Rindfleisch, MD plan to travel to Beijing in May to learn and observe TCM.

Family Medicine (FM) is a new specialty in China. Fuxing Hospital started one of the first three training programs in 1997. There are two types of FM training programs in China: systemic and non-systemic. Systemic training is similar to our three year residency program geared for new medical student graduates. Non-systemic training is a 6-12 month program for current specialists wanting to become family doctors. Currently 47 out of 156 medical schools have departments and/or centers of Family Medicine. Seventeen provinces have established Family Medicine training centers. As of June 2004, there have been 329 residents who have completed systemic training and 14,657 specialists who have completed non-systemic training.

The population of China is 1.3 billion, with the majority poor and living in rural areas. The concept of having a strong primary care base has been accepted by many Chinese medical organizations and the government. The Ministry of Health's goal is to train one million family doctors. Both the challenges and opportunities for Family Medicine in China are immense. The exchange allows the UW-DFM to participate in the ground breaking development of FM training programs in China.