Early career GPs, mental health training and clinical complexity: a cross-sectional analysis

ABSTRACT

Patients with mental health conditions commonly present in General Practice. Mental health curricula are broad. We do not know that trainees are exposed to the learning they require. This study aimed to establish the prevalence, characteristics and associations of GP trainees’ management of mental health problems.

This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis of the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study, an ongoing multisite cohort study of Australian GP trainees (registrars) documenting their clinical experiences over 60 consecutive consultations. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted with outcome of the problem/diagnosis being a mental health condition. 1659 trainees provided data on 218,325 consultations and 340,453 problems/diagnoses. Mental health conditions were associated with patients being male, of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or English-speaking background. Trainee characteristics were being more senior and having trained in Australia. Practice characteristics included being in low socioeconomic areas. Trainees sought less help for mental health concerns than they did for other problems.

While early-career GPs see a broad range of mental health conditions, they may benefit from training to manage patients from cross-cultural contexts. They may also need support to generate appropriate learning goals and seek assistance if they are to continue to deepen competence.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical education
• mental health
• general practice
• cultural competence

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the trainees and practices who participated in ReCEnT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Ethics approval

The ReCEnT project has approval from the University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee, Reference H-2009-0323.

Notes

1. Consultation at no cost to the patient.

2. Socioeconomic Index for Area (SEIFA): a relative index of disadvantage.

Additional information

Funding

During the data-collection period included in this study, funding of the ReCEnT study was by the participating educational organisations: General Practice Training Valley to Coast, the Victorian Metropolitan Alliance, General Practice Training Tasmania, Tropical Medical Training, and Adelaide to Outback GP Training Program. These organisations were funded by the Australian Department of Health.Since 2016, the ReCEnT study is funded by an Australian Commonwealth Department of Health Research Grant, and supported by GP Synergy, the general practice Regional Training Organization for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. GP Synergy is funded by the Australian Department of Health.