Teaching the future general practitioner

Medical students today still graduate with insufficient skills for their role as general practitioner (family doctor, primary care physician). In particular they are lacking in their ability to use psychotherapeutic and counselling techniques for patients with psychological and psychosomatic problems. The author presents the results of a study which suggest that it is unrealistic to teach skills that demand more than, say, 15 min a session on a total of four occasions. This severe limitation poses difficult questions for those teachers who customarily think in terms of 50 min a week over many months as the basis of the model for psychotherapeutic help. The challenge of these implications is considered, and some practical ways of meeting the requirements are suggested.