Ethics and professionalism in general practice placements: what should students learn?

A diverse range of ethical and professionalism issues has been identified in Australian general practice.

To establish which of these issues general practitioner (GP) teachers and students consider the most important, to enable GP teachers to facilitate student learning in this domain.

A survey instrument was developed and distributed to GP teachers and medical students. Participants rated the importance of students learning about each of 32 different ethical issues. Students rated their confidence in managing these areas.

GP teachers and students agreed on many of the most important issues (including patient confidentiality, medical mistakes, working with colleagues and drug-seeking patients); there are also some interesting differences. Student confidence in patient confidentiality was very high, but particularly low in career and training decisions and medical mistakes.

Students want to learn more about career and training decisions and medical mistakes. They may underestimate the complexity of confidentiality and professional relationships in general practice.