To be or not to be supervisors for medical students in general practice clinical placements: a questionnaire study from Norway

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of data collection.

Table 1. Characteristics of the study participants by supervisor status.

	All respondents		Supervisorsa
	N = 1466		Yes N = 498 (34%)		No N = 968 (66%)
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Gender
Male	686	48	261	54	425	45
Female	734	52	219	46	515	55
Age group (years)
<36	224	16	54	11	170	18
36–45	503	35	182	37	321	33
46–55	344	24	123	25	221	23
>55	388	27	136	28	252	26
Region
North	185	13	93	19	92	10
Mid	212	15	104	21	108	11
West	330	23	134	27	196	20
South-East	734	50	164	33	570	59
Municipality size (inhabitants)
<5000	143	10	59	12	84	9
5001–20,000	352	24	112	23	240	25
20,001–50,000	338	23	103	21	235	24
50,001–100,000	209	14	71	14	138	14
>100,000	420	29	152	31	268	28
Specialist in general practice
Yes	1040	71	395	80	645	67
Under specialization	380	26	97	20	283	29
Other	43	3	5	1	38	4
Size of surgery (doctors)
1–3	370	25	114	23	256	27
4–6	808	55	280	56	528	55
7+	284	19	103	21	181	19
Interns in practice
Yes	770	53	289	58	481	50
No	691	47	207	42	484	50
Teaching experience
Yes	452	31	242	49	210	22
No	1003	69	253	51	750	78
Research experience
Yes	226	16	94	19	132	14
No	1214	84	392	79	822	85
Research without authorship
Yes	203	14	90	19	113	12
No	1238	86	397	82	841	88
Ph.D. and ongoing research
Yes	65	5	29	6	36	4
No	1375	96	456	94	919	96
Supervisor for interns or residents
Yes	773	53	320	65	453	47
No	688	47	176	36	512	53

Missing 3–46 (0–3%) in the categories.

^a Supervisor Yes were the GPs who reported being a supervisor for 5th or 6th-years medical students at the GP office in the period 2019–2021.

Table 2. Salary terms, facilities and limitations by supervisor status.

	Supervisors^a
	Yes N = 498 (34%)		No N = 968 (66%)
Salary agreement/wanted salary terms	n	%	n	%
Fixed salary	181	39	546	57
Paid per student	284	61	413	43
Facilities and room for student
Designated student office the whole period	199	40	138	14
Students (would) alternate between vacant offices	224	45	495	51
(Would) use other room^b	15	3	71	7
Have no suitable room for student	59	12	264	27
Limiting factors
Limited number of offices	285	75	718	81
Space limitations	93	25	214	24
Lack of computer/software	40	11	137	16
Lack of equipment	34	9	109	12

^a Supervisors Yes were the GPs who reported being supervisors for 5th or 6th-years medical students at the GP office in the period 2019–2021, and they answered based on their current situation. The GPs not supervising medical students in that period (no), answered based on desires if they were to be supervisors for medical students.

^b Other room could be a not fully equipped room like ECG-room or room for Chirurgia minor.

Table 3. Capacity and needs reported by GPs according to supervisor status.

Active supervisorsa N = 498 (34%)
	n	%
Currently hosting more than one student at the same time	70	14
Could in the future host more students simultaneously	99	20
Needs to host several students simultaneously
More offices	342	70
Higher salaries	291	60
Economically support for equipment and office	216	44
Increased competence in clinical teaching	91	19
More equipment	86	18
Closer follow-up by the university	55	11
Do not know	16	3
Could in the future host further more students during a year	330	67
Needs to host further more students during a year
Higher salaries	292	62
More offices	232	49
Economically support for equipment and office	181	38
Increased competence in clinical teaching	105	22
Closer follow-up by the university	67	14
More equipment	55	12
Do not know	34	7
Not supervisors N = 968 (66 %)
	n	%
Received invitation to become supervisor?
Yes	247	29
No	683	71
Become a supervisor in the future?
Yes	461	48
No	166	17
Maybe	334	35
Needs for hosting medical student in the future
More offices	590	61
Economically support for equipment and office	476	50
Increased competence in clinical teaching	298	31
Close follow-up by the university	197	21
More equipment	158	16
Do not know	50	5

^a Active supervisors if supervising 5th or 6th-years medical students in Norway between 2019 and 2021.

Table 4. Likelihood of being a supervisor for medical student in clinical placement. Logistic regression with crude and adjusted results. Missing: 71

	Respondents	Crude		Adjusted
	n	OR	(95% CI)	OR	(95% CI)
Gender
Male	686	Ref.		Ref.
Female	734	0.69	(0.56–0.86)*	0.75	(0.59–0.95)*
Age group (years)
<36	224	Ref.		Ref.
36–45	503	1.79	(1.25–2.55)*	1.26	(0.82–1.95)
46–55	344	1.75	(1.20–2.56)*	1.19	(0.73–1.93)
>55	388	1.70	(1.17–2.46)*	1.15	(0.70–1.89)
Region
South-East	734	Ref.		Ref.
North	185	3.51	(2.51–4.92)**	3.89	(2.63–5.75)**
Mid	212	3.35	(2.43–4.61)**	3.10	(2.18–4.38)**
West	330	2.38	(1.80–3.14)**	2.42	(1.79–3.28)**
Municipality size (inhabitants)
<5000	143	Ref.		Ref.
5001–20,000	352	0.66	(0.45–0.99)*	0.80	(0.50–1.28)
20,001–50,000	338	0.62	(0.42–0.94)*	0.90	(0.56–1.46)
50,001–100,000	209	0.73	(0.47–1.14)	1.05	(0.64–1.74)
>100,000	420	0.81	(0.55–1.19)	1.13	(0.70–1.81)
Specialist in general practice
Yes	1040	Ref.		Ref.
Under specialization	380	0.56	(0.43–0.73)**	0.72	(0.50–1.04)
Other	43	0.22	(0.08–0.55)*	0.15	(0.04–0.51)*
Size of surgery (doctors)
1–3	370	0.84	(0.65–1.09)	1.05	(0.78–1.42)
4–6	808	Ref.		Ref.
7+	284	1.07	(0.81–1.42)	1.00	(0.73–1.38)
Teaching experiencea
No	510	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Yes	942	2.80	(2.18–3.61)**	2.31	(1.74–3.05)**

* p < .05.

** p < .001.

^a Teaching experience and supervisor experience are merged into ‘Teaching experience’ and does not include the experience of supervising medical students in clinical placement in general practice.