Exploring teacher and learner experiences of the University of Exeter Medical School (UEMS) 2018 undergraduate general practice curriculum

Problem

In the UK, Europe, and North America there is an urgent need to recruit more General Practitioners. The literature suggests good quality undergraduate General Practice (GP) placement provides a rich training ground for general clinical skills. A positive experience in General Practice (GP) as an undergraduate can inspire undergraduates to consider a career in GP. However, at present, only 3% of students consider GP to be intellectually stimulating.

With this in mind, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) introduced a GP undergraduate curriculum guide based on work-based learning theories. Subsequently, University of Exeter Medical School (UEMS) introduced a 2018 curriculum for undergraduate GP teaching, based on the same principles as the national SAPC and RCGP undergraduate GP curriculum guide.

The aim of the project is to evaluate UEMS medical students and GP educators experience of the GP undergraduate curriculum. The second aim is to assess whether a GP undergraduate curriculum base on work-based learning ideas is effective in creating educationally valuable GP undergraduate placements. The intended outcome is to gain an understanding of how well the curriculum is being implemented and experienced on placement and its educational value for students and educators.

Approach

I am currently undertaking a Clinical Education and Research Masters’ project in this area. Qualitative research methods will be used to undertake a participant orientated study. Little is known about this topic in the literature. Qualitative research will enable new themes and understandings to emerge and is best suited to capturing the complexity of a large programme, set in different local contexts, the GP practices.

For this participant orientated study, multiple perspectives of both learners and teachers will be assessed. To promote maximum diversity of sampling, recruitment is open to medical student years and GP educators in Devon and Cornwall who teach UEMS medical students on GP placements. With University of Exeter ethics approval, Zoom will be used to interview Medical students and GP medical student trainers at UEMS. Interviews will be transcribed, coded and analysed. Grounded Theory Analysis will be used, enabling the emergence of new themes in an area not extensively covered by medical education research. Analysis will be complete by end of June 2022.

Findings

I am currently interviewing participants. I have not yet obtained interim findings.

Consequences

This research will feedback into the wider educational debates about how to create good quality GP medical student placements, educational theories behind medical undergraduate placement curricula, and the value of a GP undergraduate curriculum based on work-based learning theories. In establishing how to deliver high quality undergraduate placements in General Practice, it is hoped these findings will contribute to the debate about how to promote General Practice as a career.