Clinical teaching capacity in New Zealand general practice

To explore the capacity for both undergraduate and postgraduate clinical teaching by New Zealand general practitioners in general practices.

A postal survey sent to 1168 GPs (constituting a stratified sample of one-third of the members of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners [RNZCGP]) received 561 responses-a response rate of 48%. 508 responses were eligible for further analysis.

Respondents were similar in gender mix and age range to the total membership of the RNZCGP. Over half of all respondents (286/508; 56%) were currently (or had been) involved in some clinical teaching in practices. The most common reason identified for enjoying teaching was 'Facilitating students with their learning' (214/288; 74%) and 'Learning from teaching' (213/288; 74%). The most common reason for not teaching was 'Lack of time to provide clinical teaching' (239/508; 47%). Most participants (398/508; 78%) indicated that only one or two students could be accommodated at the practice at any one time.

A sizable proportion of the total GP workforce is already involved in some form of clinical teaching, even allowing for a likely higher response rate among teaching GPs. Most respondents indicated that practices currently have limited capacity for teaching, although identified barriers would be surmountable with adequate resources. These findings have important implications for the future of not only undergraduate medical education in community clinical settings, but also proposed increases in general practice vocational training necessary to meet current and future workforce requirements.