Training gynaecological teaching associates

The Gynecological Teaching Associate (GTA) instructional method is recognized as excellent by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Undergraduate Education Committee for the instruction of medical students and doctors in the skills required for performance of women's reproductive health evaluation (obstetric-gynaecological history, breast and pelvic examinations, and PAP smear). The method is used in over 90% of American and Canadian medical schools and thus represents a major allocation of educational resources. This success is to a large extent dependent on the quality of training programmes for the GTAs. This paper provides a description of the training programme for GTAs at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has operated successfully for the last 3 years, resulting in a group of 18 GTAs who train approximately 450 medical students and residents each year. It is hoped that this information will help medical educators and planners to develop and/or maintain their GTA programmes (or equivalent in other countries) in the fiscally difficult times facing institutions of higher learning.