Semergen expands its early cancer detection training program

Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (Semergen) announced the start of a training program Online “Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer”, organized in collaboration with the company MSD in Spain.

Jose Polo, President of Semergen, recalled that prevention and early diagnosis are fundamental aspects of improving the prognosis of cancer and, together with modern treatment methods, allow the patient to be considered “chronic”. For this reason, your family doctor should be involved in your treatment.

President Semergena spoke about territorial differences in human and technical resources at the initial consultations on preventing or improving cancer diagnosis. In this sense he also mentioned “administrative obstacles” that family physicians sometimes face when performing or requesting certain diagnostic tests.

“Everything can be improved,” he noted.

Accredited training

In its turn, Alfonso Barquilla, course coordinator and head of the training agency Semergen, explained that the goal is to “promote early diagnosis of the most common tumors due to their prevalence or morbidity and mortality, where intervention can be implemented at the primary care level.” The training program consists of two editions of four modules each. In the first edition the program is dedicated to chest tumors, melanoma, breast cancer and nephro-urological tumors. The second edition is dedicated head and neck tumors (mouth, salivary glands, pharynx and larynx), digestive (esophagus, stomach, colon) and gynecological (cervix, endometrium and ovaries).

Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer

Alfonso Barquilla announced that he supports the program The NHS Continuing Education Commission awarded the first edition 2.4 credits. Regarding the accreditation of the second edition, he said that the matter was under consideration. Two editions will be available until December 2024.

The coordinators of this educational project were Alfonso Barquilla and Vicente Martin, editor-in-chief of the journal Medicina de Familia-Semergen and professor of public health at the University of León. The teaching staff consists of members of the Semergen working groups on infectious diseases, migrants, vaccines and preventive measures, women’s care, respiratory, nephrurology and dermatology.

Starting the diagnostic process on the PC

In his speech, Joaquín Mateos, medical director of MSD Spain, thanked Semergen for its “strong commitment to continuing medical education”, which aims to achieve “excellent clinical quality”. In his opinion, “the primary care physician must detect certain signs and symptoms to begin the diagnostic process of a cancer patient.” Regarding preventive policies, José Polo and Alfonso Barquilla emphasized the need to strengthen smoking prevention campaigns, especially among the younger population. “We know that bad habits contribute to the occurrence of cancer, so we must focus on educating the population about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle,” said the president of Semergen. The latest data on smoking among young people has been “disappointing”.

“We’re probably not raising them well,” complained Jose Polo. In a similar vein, he mentioned the harmful effects of alcohol and other drugs: “We must push for better health education.”

Vaccine to prevent cervical cancer

For his part, Joaquin Mateos focused on vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, and noted that early data on boys’ vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) are “very similar” to girls’ vaccination rates.