Educational training requirements for general practice/family medicine specialty training: recommendations for trainees, trainers and training institutions

ABSTRACT

High-quality training is a prerequisite to teaching future general practitioners. To inspire and guide all countries to implement General Practice (GP) specialist education and training and bring it to the highest standards, we aimed, within the European context, to produce a collaborative document entitled ‘Educational Requirements for GP Specialty Training’. Through an iterative process existing documents from the European Academy of Teachers in GP and Family Medicine (EURACT) and the World Organization of Family Medicine Doctors (WONCA) were collated. Other reports, grey literature about specialty GP training and requirements for trainees, trainers and training institutions were included. State-of-the-art GP specialty training ‘core’ competences, characteristics and essential features of GP are described. General principles and specified tools for training and assessment are summarised. Recommendations on the duration and place(s) of training and selection of trainees are provided. Trainers should be accredited teachers and quality training institutions are essential. New insights, existing gaps and issues for debate have highlighted areas for further research. This document was produced in the specific context of Europe but its general principles are relevant to GP training in all countries.

KEYWORDS:

• General practice
• family medicine
• specialty training
• workplace-based learning
• curriculum development

Acknowledgments

We thank all the members of the EURACT Specialty Training Committee for their contribution and advice. EURACT Council members approved and supported our work. We also acknowledge the support and advice of the WONCA Europe EB and UEMO.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For the convenience of the reader, general practitioner/family doctor will be abbreviated by FD.

2. For the convenience of the reader, General Practice/Family Medicine will be abbreviated by GP.