General practice registrars as teachers: a questionnaire-based evaluation

OBJECTIVES To determine how many General Practice (GP) Registrars in the London Deanery taught medical students during their final year of training. For those who did teach, to evaluate their experiences and for those who did not, to identify perceived barriers to teaching. DESIGN Cross sectional survey of GP Registrars in the London Deanery completing their training in August 2010. SETTING Online survey of GP Registrars sent after completion of training via the London Deanery GP Vocational Training Scheme (VTS) programme administrators. PARTICIPANTS GP Registrars in the London Deanery completing their training in August 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The proportion of London Deanery GP registrars completing training in August 2010 who taught medical students during their registrar year. RESULTS Over half of respondents were involved in some form of medical student teaching during their registrar year. Most of those who taught felt it enhanced their training, and the majority of those who did not teach would have liked to. Commonly cited barriers to teaching were: students not attached to the practice; not being given the opportunity to teach; and not having time to teach. CONCLUSIONS This evaluation demonstrated that GP registrars are either already involved with undergraduate teaching or want to get involved and the majority who teach feel that it enhances their training. A UK-wide study investigating the experiences and views of both GP registrars and GP trainers is warranted and qualitative work using focus groups or semistructured interviews would be valuable to develop the questionnaire for wider dissemination.