Maintaining capacity for in-practice teaching and supervision of students and general practice trainees: A cross-sectional study of early career general practitioners

Abstract

Objectives. Expanding learner cohorts of medical students and general practitioner (GP) vocational trainees and the impending retirement of the 'baby boomer' GP cohort threaten the teaching and supervisory capacity of the Australian GP workforce. Engaging newly qualified GPS is essential to sustaining this workforce training capacity. The aim of the present study was to establish the prevalence and associations of in-practice clinical teaching and supervision in early career GPS. Methods. The present study was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of recent (within 5 years) alumni of three of Australia's 17 regional general practice training programs. The outcome factor was whether the alumnus taught or supervised medical students, GP registrars or other learners in their current practice. Logistic regression analysis was used to establish associations of teaching and supervision with independent variables comprising alumnus demographics, current practice characteristics and vocational training experiences. Results. In all, 230 alumni returned questionnaires (response rate 37.4%). Of currently practising alumni, 52.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 45.6-59.0%) reported current teaching or supervisory activities. Factors significantly (P < 0.05) associated with alumni currently undertaking in-practice clinical teaching and supervision were: Australian medical graduation (odds ratio (OR) for international graduates 0.36; 95% CI 0.14-0.92), working in a regional or remote area (OR 2.75; 95% CI 1.24-6.11) and currently undertaking nursing home visits, home visits or after-hours work (OR 2.01; CI 1.02-3.94). © AHHA 2018.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Not provided

Index Keywords

Teaching adult cross-sectional study human male medical education procedures questionnaire Cross-Sectional Studies Humans Surveys and Questionnaires Article Vocational education Australia education general practitioner General Practitioners medical student Students, Medical career clinical practice human experiment middle aged prevalence organization and management Education, Medical clinical education alumnus family medicine independent variable home visit nursing home

Author Affiliations

GP Synergy NSW and ACT Research and Evaluation Unit, Newcastle, NSW, Australia, School of Medicine and Public Health, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

School of Medicine and Public Health, Callaghan, NSW, Australia, Public Health Research Program, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Public Health Research Program, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Eastern Victoria GP Training, Hawthorn, vic, Australia, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

GP Synergy NSW and ACT Research and Evaluation Unit, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Discipline of General Practice, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

School of Medicine and Public Health, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

Funding & Acknowledgements

Department of Health, Australian Government

Grant: ERG1415006

This study was funded through a General Practice Education and Training (GPET) Education Research Grant (Australian Government Department of Health; ERG1415006). Neither the Department of Health nor General Practice Education and Training had any role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, or the writing of this article. In addition, the Department of Health and General Practice Education and Training neither controlled nor influenced the decision to submit the final manuscript for publication.

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Maintaining capacity for in-practice teaching and supervision of students and general practice trainees: A cross-sectional study of early career general practitioners

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