Post-Graduate Specialty
Community Medicine/Primary Health Care Specialty School has been activated in 2000-01 academic year, referring to July 3rd , 1996 Ministerial Decree. The course was 4 years long and it trained “specialist physician in community and family medicine professional area, fitting for managerial roles in Primary Health Care.”
August 2005 Ministerial Decree (medical area schools’ reorganization) places this specialty in Medical Area, General Medicine Class, 5 lasting years and finalized to train doctors in acute and chronic diseases’ diagnosis, cure and rehabilitation tasks and managing and verifying of Primary Health Care (Districts, services/Units Primary Care and Community Medicine Departments) and Primary Care network coordination”.
Referring to August 1st, 2005 Ministerial Decree the School started in 2008-09 academic year. Community Medicine/PHC specialty is the only university specialty training specialists in Primary Care/Primary Health Care as in WHO intentions.
IN Italy CM/PHC specialty school is NOT coincident with Hygiene and Preventive Medicine as indicated in "Titles of training courses in specialized medicine" chart of 2005/36/CE European Directive. This wrong placement/interpretation created the erroneous identification of these two specialties, although the clear difference between them.
