[The general practice course catalog--an attempt at quality assurance in graduate general practice education]

Additionally to the training in the hospital and in the practice, the rules for continuing education for general practise, established at the meeting of medical German physicians in 1992 demand the participation in theoretical seminars. The content and duration of these seminars is content and duration of these seminars is laid down in recommendations of the chamber of the physicians of Germany to ensure the quality of the courses. According to this, the first recommendations consists of the Course Book for General Medical Practise regarding a course of 240 hours duration. This is a nation-wide standardized curriculum which was accepted from all German chambers of physicians as the basis of the further education in family medicine. The standardization and the structuring of the content, goals, and methods of teaching and learning as well as the organization of the seminars, the working materials for the teachers, regular training for the presenters and teachers, methods for a nation-wide evaluation of the seminars, and independence from commercial interests are the features to ensure the quality of the courses.