New Zealand general practice registrars’ views on their academic learning needs during vocational training: online survey

ABSTRACT

Most doctors working in New Zealand general practice undertake vocational training through the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. We aimed to explore general practice registrar views on their academic learning needs during and following vocational training. An online survey of all current NZ GP trainees in 2019 was completed by 314 registrars (54% response rate). The majority (88%, 275/314) were completing RNZCGP Fellowship only, and of these half (55%, 152/275) were planning a further postgraduate qualification. A minority (12%, 33/275) indicated a desire to undertake a masters or PhD degree. Almost all (99%, 310/314) intended to work in general practice; 9% (8/314) intending to also work as rural hospital doctors. The five most common areas of interest for further training were clinical skills (68%), practice-based teaching (66%), specific clinical conditions (63%), age or life-stage specific (47%) and non-clinical areas (41%). There is a considerable gap between completing RNZCGP Fellowship, intending to undertake further (formal postgraduate) education and actually enrolling. This is concerning given the need for lifelong learning and critical evaluation of practice and health service delivery. The future New Zealand general practice workforce needs GPs to be diverse and highly skilled members or leaders of expert teams.

KEYWORDS:

• General practice
• vocational education
• academic training
• family medicine
• needs

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Matthew Buck, Manager of Membership Services, RNZCGP for disseminating the surveys, and Mattie Gregory and Adam Tee, RNZCGP, for providing information on GP registrar demographics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee (UAHPEC) Ref 018476.