Teaching general practice to medical students across 44 medical schools: a thematic analysis

To explore solutions and innovations implemented by medical schools in high-income countries to teach the general practice and primary care components within their medical programmes.

This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with academic leaders of general practice curricula at their medical school about the nature of their medical programme, how general practice is taught each year, specific longitudinal integrated clerkships, benefits to teaching, challenges to delivering the programme and solutions. Data were coded, categorised and themes developed in an inductive process.

Interviews involved 44 medical schools: 16 Australian; 15 English; 6 Irish; 4 Canadian; 3 Nordic. Range of curricula from traditional to integrated, problem-based to spiral with undergraduate or postgraduate entry or both. Five themes were developed: curriculum organisation; non-clinical patient engagement; authentic GP experiences; exposure to GP teacher role-models; simulation and information technology.

How the general practice curriculum is organised within a medical programme is not uniform. Placements may occur at the beginning, end or throughout; may range from half-days to full-time year-long placements. GP-led curricula exposing students to GPs as teachers and role-models may counter negative stereotypes and increase interest in general practice careers. Growing use of simulation, remote consulting and the use of IT innovations provides alternatives to traditional parallel general practice consulting model for teaching and learning. The findings from this study will inform the development of our redesigned curriculum at the University of Auckland.