[International course Training of teachers in general/family practice: 20 years of experience]

Twenty years of experience in organising and participating at the international courses of Training of teachers in general/family practice are presented. The course was for the first time held in 1983 at the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik. The founders and the first course directors were the members of the Leeuwenhorst group. There were some difficulties in the organisation of the courses during the war, so that two of them were held in Zagreb, while three were not organised at all. Learning from experience in the small groups was the main method of work. During the whole period, 17 topics were discussed. At the beginning they were mostly educational: developing educational module, defining educational objectives and chosing educational methods and methods of evaluation and assessment. Then, the specific GPs' working methods were discussed as a content and opportunity for teaching. In the last period, the current GPs' topics and the topics usually neglected in current medical education, such as sexual problems, addiction problems, alternative medicine and ethical problems as well as professional values were disscused. 432 participants, from 25 different European countries, Egypt, Kuwait and Japan participated at the courses. There were 85 Croatian participants at the course held in Zagreb. The authors' thoughts about their positive and negative experience in the organisation of these courses is also discussed.