An evaluation of the views of GP Specialty Trainees on their involvement in medical student teaching

Abstract

Background

A recent survey in the North East of England (now Health Education England in the North East) revealed that General Practice Specialty Trainees (GPSTs) wished for more opportunities to teach. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) states that GPSTs are ideally placed to deliver undergraduate teaching.

The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent GPSTs perceived a pilot of teaching medical students to be useful in their development.

Methods

Ethical approval was granted by Newcastle University. Purposive sampling was used to identify GPSTs to teach fourth year medical students. Semi-structured interviews took place with the GPSTs and data were thematically analysed.

Results

All five GPSTs involved in the pilot were interviewed. The overall theme was that they felt this to be a valuable opportunity that would inspire them to become involved with education in the future. The study highlighted the need for formal sessions on ‘how to teach’ for the GPSTs.

Discussion

An understanding of the benefits of this teaching pilot will allow Newcastle University and local GP Training Programmes to develop opportunities for GPSTs to be involved in education during their training. This may in turn attract GPs into education and inspire medical students to become GPs.

Keywords:

• Medical student
• GP Specialty Trainee
• undergraduate
• teaching
• education

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the GP Specialty Trainees for contributing to the teaching and for participating in this study. The authors also thank the Northumbria GP Training Programme for hosting the initiative.