Family Medicine

Becoming a Doctor (BaDr)
 

6th Year MBChB Programme

• Postgraduate Diploma in Family Medicine  (DFM)
   
• Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine  (DPM)
   
• Master of Philosophy in Palliative Medicine  (MPhil Pall Med)
   
• Master of Medicine in Family Medicine  (MMed FamMed)
   
• Master of Family Medicine  (MFamMed) (not registrable with HPCSA)

Application Form

Clinical services are provided by a team of Family Physicians, Medical Officers and Registrars at various sites within the Western Cape.  Family Medicine principles are incorporated within the range of services provided.
 

Range of services provided: 

• Family Medicine
• Ambulatory & In-patient Care of Adults and Children
• Anaesthestics
• Minor Surgical Services  
• Paediatrics
• Internal Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Orthopaedics
• HIV/AIDS management
• Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Sites of service delivery
 

Regional Hospitals:

Somerset Hospital

Victoria Hospital

District Hospitals:

Mitchells Plain District Hospital

Vredenburg District Hospital

Community Health Centres:

Cross Roads Community Health Centre

Gugulethu Community Health Centre

Hanover Park Community Health Centre

Heideveld Community Health Centre

Lotus River Community Health Centre

Mitchells Plain Community Health Centre

Retreat Community Health Centre

Vanguard Community Health Centre

The Division of Family Medicine research focus is mainly directed towards action research related to the state health services at the primary and district levels of care. The areas we are concentrating on are:

• Chronic diseases of lifestyle - effective auditing and cost-effective management of patients
• Quality of care indicators for primary care outcomes including the use of the PCAT tool and PROMS (patient related outcome measures in Palliative Care)
• Improving access to health care at the clinic, CHC and District Hospital levels for example waiting times, language barriers etc.
• Partnering with the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Unit and the Mitchell's Plain District Hospital (MDHS), Western Cape Government Department of Health, in identifying suitable student projects which could be developed further to improve services
• Educational research related to the courses we teach

Collaboration with Other Organisations and Networks

• Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota
• PRIMAFAMED Network (the Primary Care and Family Medicine Network for sub-Saharan Africa)
• The Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine
• South African Academy of Family Physicians
• The College of Family Physicians
• Family Medicine Department, Stellenbosch University
• Kings College, London
• University  of Namibia (UNAM)
• Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
• WONCA

Community Health Services Organization

• Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa
• CANSA
• Eros School
• Mary Harding School
• Vista Nova School
• Astra School
• St Josephs Home
• Oakhaven Old Age Home
• Beit-ul-Aman
• Beaconvale Community Frail Care Centre
• Clothing Industry Bargaining Council

Senior Lecturers Full-time

Name	Email	Telephone No
Nazlie Beckett		021 406 7710
Neal David		021 406 6510
Angela de Sa		021 712 5105
Elma de Vries		021 406 6510
Abdul Isaacs		021 391 7991
Rene Krause		021 406-6707
Liesl Morales Perez		021 406 6510
Tasleem Ras		021 650 5221
Beverley Schweitzer		021 406 6441
Dianne Matthews		021 406 6189

Lecturers Part-time

Name	Email	Telephone No
Alan Barnard		021 406 6707
Cameron Bruce		021 406 6707
Maggie de Swart		021 406 6590
Lindsay Farrant		021 406 6707
Michelle Meiring		021 406 6707
Sadick Saban		021 406 6421
Haniem Salie

Emeritus Associate Professors

Adjunct Associate Professor

Honorary Professor

Honorary Associate Professors

Honorary Senior Lecturers

Honorary Lecturers

Registrars

Administrative Staff

Name	Description	Email	Telephone No
Bernadette Bredekamp	Administrative Assistant (BaDr)		021 406 6805
Manisha Chavda	Administrative Assistant (6th Yr Family Medicine)		021 406 6421
Naomi Fray	Administrative Assistant (Palliative Care)		021 406 6707
Fundiswa Mpetsheni	Administrative Assistant (Division & Family Medicine PG)		021 406 6510

Journal articles

2021

• How well do we teach the primary healthcare approach? A case study of health sciences course documents, educators, and students at the University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences, J Irlam, M I Datay, S Reid, M Alperstein, N Hartman, M Namane, S Singh, F Walters. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2020.
  
   

2020

• Older persons’ experience with health care at two primary level clinics in Cape Town, South Africa: qualitative assessment, Tsepo Motsohi1, Mosedi Namane1,2, Augustine Chidi Anele1, Mumtaz Abbas1, Sebastiana Zimba Kalula. BJGP Open. 2020 Aug 25;4(3)
• The primary care provider’s role in providing supportive and palliative care for patients in chronic renal failure, René Krause 1, Nicola Wearne, Tsepo Motsohi, Bianca Davidson. S Afr Fam Pract (2004). 2020 Dec 11;62(1).
• A framework for implementation of community orientated primary care in the Metro Health Services, Cape Town, South Africa, Robert Mash, Charlyn Goliath, Hassan Mahomed, Steve Reid, Derek Hellenberg, Gio Perez. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2020; 12(1): 2632.
• Mastering your fellowship, Klaus B. von Pressentin, Mergan Naidoo, Bob Mash, Andrew Ross, Tasleem Ras. South African Family Practice | Vol 59, No 6: November/December 2020.
• Family medicine internship support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Cape Town, South Africa - A narrative report, Vairones’ Solomon 1, Ayesha Allie, Raeesah Fakier, Daniel Tadmor, Kamaludin Ashtiker, Colyn Le Roux, Junaid Omar, Mosedi Namane. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2020 Nov 6;12(1)
•  The Cape Town International Convention Centre from the inside: The family physicians’ view of the ‛Hospital of Hope’, Steve Reid, Tasleem Ras, Klaus von Pressentin. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 2020.
• Osteoarthritis in 2020 and beyond: a Lancet Commission, Nigel Arden, Jocelyn Bowden, Andrew Briggs, Leigh Callahan, Cyrus Cooper, Marita Cross, Krysia Dziedzic, Rolando Espinosa, Kai Fu, Francis Guillemin, David J Hunter (Co-Chair), Teppo Järvinen, Stefan Lohmander, Elena Losina, Lyn March (Co-Chair), Heather McKay, YiFang Mei, Stephen Messier, Ali Mobasheri, Mosedi Namane, Tuhina Neogi, Michael Nicholas, George Peat, Ester Penserga, May Arna Risberg, Saeid Safiri, Saurab Sharma, Regina Sit, Rosa Weiss Telles, and Marianna Vitalon. CrossMark 2020.
• Evaluation of patient characteristics, management, and outcomes for COVID-19 at district hospitals in the Western Cape, South Africa: descriptive observational study, Robert James Mash 1, Mellisa Presence-Vollenhoven, Adeloye Adeniji, Renaldo Christoffels, Karlien Doubell, Lawson Eksteen, Amee Hendrikse, Lauren Hutton, Louis Jenkins, Paul Kapp, Annie Lombard, Heleen Marais, Liezel Rossouw, Katrin Stuve, Abi Ugoagwu, Beverley Williams.  BMJ Open. 2021.
• Amitriptyline prescribing in public sector healthcare facilities in the Western Cape, South Africa, Renier Coetzee, Yasmina Johnson, Johan van Niekerk, Mosedi Namane. PLOS ONE 2020.
• The state of family medicine training programmes within the Primary Care and Family Medicine Education network, Klaus B. von Pressentin, Innocent Besigye, Robert Mash, Zelra Malan. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 2020.
• Community-based screening and testing for Coronavirus in Cape Town, South Africa: Short report, Neal David 1, Robert Mash. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med 2020.
• The evolving role of family physicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis: An appreciative reflection, Louis S. Jenkins, Klaus B. von Pressentin, Kartik Naidoo, Rachel Schaefer. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med 2020.
• Spiritual Care, Pain Reduction, and Preferred Place of Death Among Advanced Cancer Patients in Soweto, South Africa, Mpho Ratshikana-Moloko, Oluwatosin Ayeni, Jacob M Tsitsi, Michelle L Wong, Judith S Jacobson, Alfred I Neugut, Mfanelo Sobekwa, Maureen Joffe, Keletso Mmoledi, Charmaine L Blanchard 9, Witness Mapanga, Paul Ruff 11, Herbert Cubasch, Daniel S O'Neil, Tracy A Balboni, Holly G Prigerson. J Pain Symptom Manage 2020.
• Debate: Why should gender-affirming health care be included in health science curricula? Elma de Vries, Harsha Kathard & Alex Müller. BMC Medical Education 2020.
• Training family physicians: A qualitative exploration of experiences of registrars in a family medicine training programme in Cape Town, South Africa, Tasleem Ras 1, Beverley Schweitzer, Graham Bresick, Derek Hellenberg. S Afr Fam Pract (2004) 2020.

2019

• Primary health care performance: a scoping review of the current state of measurement in Africa. Bresick G, Christians F, Makwero M, et al. BMJ Global Health 2019;4(8).
• Evaluating the performance of South African primary care: a cross-sectional descriptive survey. B Graham, KB von Pressentin and R Mash. SA Family Practice 2019; 61(3):109-116.
• Access to Pain Management as a Human Right. Frank Brennan, Diederik Lohman and Liz Gwyther. Am J Public Health 2019;109(1):61-65.

2018

• Building a palliative care curriculum for oncology lists. Krause R, Parkes J, Gwyther L, Anderson D, Hartman N. The Specialist Forum 2018;18(4):42-43. 
• Strengths and Limitations of a family physician. Derek Hellenberg, Farion R. Williams, Mohan Kubendra, and Resmi S. Kaimal J, Family Med Prim Care 2018. 7: 284-7.
• Development and validation of a tool to measure patient experience in chronic disease care. Nayna Manga, Richard Harding, Angela de Sa, Kathleen Murie, Mosedi K. Namane, Peter J. Raubenheimer, Derek A. Hellenberg, Elma de Vries.Africa J Primary Health Care Fam Med 2018;10(1).
• Baseline measures of primary health care team functioning and overall primary health care performance at Du Noon Community Health Centre. Shapi Mukiapini, Graham Bresick, Abdul-Rauf Sayed, Cynthia le Grange. Africa J Primary Health Care Fam Med. 2018;10(1): a1458.
• The development of hospital-based palliative care services in public hospitals in the Western Cape, South Africa. L Gwyther, R Krause, C Cupido, J Stanford, H Grey, T Credé, A de Vos, J Arendse, P Raubenheimer. South Africa Med J. 2018;108(2):86-8.
• The development of hospital-based palliative care services in public hospitals in the Western Cape, South Africa. L Gwyther, R Krause, C Cupido, J Stanford, H Grey, T Credé, A de Vos, J Arendse, P Raubenheimer, MIMS Handbook of Oncology 2018.
• Access to palliative care in HIV services in Cape Town. Gwyther L, Heap M, London L. 2018 Jun;30(sup2):11-15. Epub 2018 May,30.
• Access to Palliative Care Services: A Qualitative Study of Experiences of Children and Families Attending University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. Wilbroad Mutale, Fastone Goma and Liz Gwyther. Palliat Care Med 2018;8(1): 328.
• Challenges experienced by healthcare workers in managing patients with hearing impairment at a primary health care setting: a descriptive case study. S Orrie and T Motsohi. SA Family Practice 2018;60(6):207-211.

2017

• Multimorbidity in a large district hospital: A descriptive cross-sectional study. S Roche, E de Vries. SAMJ 2017;107(12):1110-1115.
• Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa. Joel Claassen, Zukile Jama, Nayna Manga, Minnie Lewis, and Derek Hellenberg. BMC Health Services Research 2017;17:390.
• Is it just religious practice? Exploring patients’ reasons for choosing a faith-based primary health clinic over their local public sector primary health clinic. James D. Porter, Graham Bresick. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med 2017;(9)1.
• Living and dying in pain. Gwyther L. 2017. May 1;2017:40.

2016

• How to change organisational culture: Action research in a South African public sector primary care facility. Mash R, De Sá A, Christodoulou, M, Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med 2016;31;8(1): e1-9.
• Dyspnoea: Pathophysiology and a clinical approach. C B I Coccia, G H Palkowski, B Schweitzer, T Motsohi, N A B Ntusi. S Afr Med J 2016;106(1):32-36.  
• Approach to chest pain and acute myocardial infarction. S Pandie, D Hellenberg, F Hellig, M Ntsekhe. S Afr Med J 2016;106(3):239-245.
• An approach to the young hypertensive patient. Phetho Mangena, Sadick Saban, Kefilwe Hlabyago, Brian Rayner, South African Medical Journal 2016;106(1):36-38.
• An approach to the patient with suspected pericardial disease. C G Kyriakakis, B M Mayosi, E de Vries, A Isaacs, A F Doubell. Afr Med J 2016;106(2):151-155. 
• Western Cape Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) study: Measuring primary care organisation and performance in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (2013). Graham F. Bresick, Abdul-Rauf Sayed, Cynthia le Grange, Susheela Bhagwan, Nayna Manga, Derek Hellenberg. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 8(1) a1057.
• The Prevalence and Associated Distress of Physical and Psychological Symptoms in Patients with Advanced Heart Failure Attending a South African Medical Center. Lokker, Martine E. RN, MSC; Gwyther, Liz MD; Riley, Jillian P. RN, PhD; van Zuylen, Lia MD, PhD; van der Heide, Agnes MD, PhD; Harding, Richard. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing 2016;31(4):313-322.
• What are the communication skills and needs of doctors when communicating a poor prognosis to patients and their families? A qualitative study from South Africa. L L Ganca, L Gwyther, R Harding, M Meiring. S Afr Med J 2016;106(9):940-944. 

2015

• Common mental disorders are not diagnosed commonly in community health centres. TS  Motsohi , AA Isaacs, N Manga, C Le Grange, M Roelefse, P Milligan, DA Hellenberg and AR Sayed. SA Family Practice 2015;57(4):259-260.
• Routine cranial computed tomography before lumbar puncture in HIV-positive adults presenting with seizures at Mitchells Plain Hospital, Cape Town. Moolla S, Rajkumar A, de Vries E. South Afr J HIV Med 2015;16(1):354.
• Auditing chronic disease care: Does it make a difference? Vivien Essel, Unita Van Vuuren, Angela De Sa, Srini Govender, Katie Murie, Arina Schlemmer, Colette Gunst, Mosedi Namane, Andrew Boulle, Elma De Vries. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 2015; 7(1): a753.
• Collaborative action research to reduce persistently long patient wait times in two public clinics in Western Cape, South Africa. A Sastry, K N G Long, A de Sa, H Salie, S Topp, S Sanghvi, L van Niekerk. Published Online March 26, 2015.
• Quality of care and cost of prescriptions for diabetes and hypertension at primary healthcare facilities in the Cape Town Metropole. A Isaacs, N Manga, C Le Grange, DA Hellenberg, V Titus & R Sayed. SA Fam Pract 2015;57(3):187-193.
• Impact of transthoracic echocardiography at district hospital level. Bedeker WF, Lachman AS, Borkum M, Hellenberg D, Cupido CS. S Afr Med J 2015;105(10):817-22.
• Diabetes mellitus and non-traumatic lower extremity amputations in four public sector hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa, during 2009 and 2010. G L Dunbar, D A Hellenberg, N S Levitt. S Afr Med J 2015;105(12):1053-1056.
• Adaptation and cross-cultural validation of the United States Primary Care Assessment Tool (expanded version) for use in South Africa. Graham Bresick, Abdul-Rauf Sayed, Cynthia le Grange, Susheela Bhagwan, Nayna Manga. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 2015; 7(1): | a783. 
• Evidence-Based Programming of HIV Care and Support, Is the Psychosocial Optional?Harding Richard, Downing Julia, Ekstrand Maria, Gwyther Liz, Sherr Lorraine P. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 2015; 70(5):e176-e177.