Foundation Programme doctors as teachers

Teaching is a core competency outlined in the Foundation Programme curriculum in the UK. This article reports data from a larger postal questionnaire study asking general practitioner (GP) trainers and GP programme directors in the Yorkshire & Humber Deanery whether Foundation Year 2 (FY2) doctors were undertaking teaching roles during primary care posts. We also aimed to explore their attitudes towards FY2s as teachers.

A questionnaire was designed asking whether FY2s had been present in the practice, and if so what teaching methods they had undertaken. The responder was then asked how comfortable they would feel with an FY2 doctor undertaking certain teaching roles. Responses were prompted using a nine-point Likert scale.

The response rate was 74 per cent (216/291). Of the respondents, 37 per cent (80/216) stated that FY2s had been present in their surgery in the last 12 months; 16 per cent (13/80) went on to say that those FY2 doctors had undertaken teaching roles. Respondents felt more comfortable with FY2s undertaking the teaching of practical skills (median score 6, interquartile range 5-7, on the Likert scale) and giving one-to-one tutorials to medical students (median score 6, interquartile range range 4-7), but were uncomfortable with them clinically supervising medical students (median score 3, interquartile range 2-5) and giving one-to-one tutorials to fellow FY2s (median 4, interquartile range 2-5).

With reduced hours resulting in a decrease in exposure to teaching experience during hospital rotations, it is important that these doctors are given adequate opportunities during primary care placements to improve skills in this area.