University of Sussex
Browse
Newcastle study .pdf (249.61 kB)

Facilitators and barriers to teaching undergraduate medical students in general practice

Download (249.61 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 18:24 authored by John Richard George Barber, Sophie Elizabeth Park, Kim Jensen, Hannah Marshall, Paula McDonald, Robert Kee McKinley, Hannah Randles, Hugh Alberti
CONTEXT Globally, primary health care is facing workforce shortages. Longer and higher-quality placements in primary care increase the likelihood of medical students choosing this specialty. However, the recruitment and retention of community primary care teachers are challenging. Relevant research was predominantly carried out in the 1990s. We seek to understand contemporary facilitators and barriers to general practitioner (GP) engagement with undergraduate education. Communities of practice (CoP) theory offers a novel conceptualisation, which may be pertinent in other community-based teaching settings. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 24 GP teachers at four UK medical schools. We purposively sampled GPs new to teaching, established GP teachers and GPs who had recently stopped teaching. We undertook NVivo-assisted deductive and inductive thematic analysis of transcripts. We used CoP theory to interpret data. RESULTS Communities of practice theory illustrated that teachers negotiate membership of three CoPs: (i) clinical practice; (ii) the medical school, and (iii) teaching. The delivery of clinical care and teaching may be integrated or exist in tension. This can depend upon the positioning of the teaching and teacher as central or peripheral to the clinical CoP. Remuneration, workload, space and the expansion of GP trainee numbers impact on this. Teachers did not identify strongly as members of the medical school or a teaching community. Perceptions of membership were affected by medical school communication and support. The findings demonstrate gaps in medical school recruitment. CONCLUSIONS This research demonstrates the marginalisation of primary care-based teaching and proposes a novel explanation rooted in CoP theory. Concepts including identity and membership may be pertinent to other community-based teaching settings. We recommend that medical schools review and broaden recruitment methods. Teacher retention may be improved by optimising the interface between medical schools and teachers, fostering a teaching community, increasing professional rewards for teaching involvement and altering medical school expectations of learning in primary care.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Medical Education

ISSN

0308-0110

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

8

Volume

53

Page range

778-787

Department affiliated with

  • Primary Care and Public Health Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-07-16

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-07-16

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-07-16

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC