Experiences of a Slovak PhD pioneer

It has all started 10 years ago, at my first WON CA Europe conference in Istanbul in 2008, where I became amazed by so many general practitioners, who performed and presented their scientific work there. However it took me 7 years since the idea to start my PhD studies until it´s final completion in 2017. My PhD journey wasn´t straight, but rather twisty, with 2 interruptions. In 2011 I started to earn my basic research skills at 2 courses. The first one was the European General Practice Research Network (EG PRN) course in Nice and the second University of Crete´s research workshop in Slovakia lead by Professor Christos Lionis. The easiest part of my PhD studies was the clinical one – administering questionnaire and performing spirometry with my patients at my rural general practice. I also enjoyed teaching medical students at undergraduate as well as postgraduate level. I gave lectures at national conferences and published articles about general medicine in Slovak scientific journals, focusing on prevention, patient safety and respiratory diseases, especially COPD. I also contributed to two medical text books. My research was presented as posters or oral presentations at 3 WON CA Europe conferences, where I found a great space for sharing research ideas and results. Final results of my PhD thesis are going to be presented at Krakow conference. Even though I was a fruitful author of publications, reaching the goal of an international publication was the most difficult part for me, not achievable without a help of experienced colleague, Austrian general practitioner, Professor Gustav Kamenski.