Student-centred GP ambassadors: Perceptions of experienced clinical tutors in general practice undergraduate training.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore experienced general practitioner (GP) tutor perceptions of a skilled GP tutor of medical students. DESIGN: Interview study based on focus groups. SETTING: Twenty GPs experienced in tutoring medical students at primary health care centres in two Swedish regions were interviewed. METHOD: Four focus-group interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. SUBJECTS: Twenty GP tutors, median age 50, specifically selected according to age, gender, and location participated in two focus groups in Gothenburg and Malmö, respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Meaning units in the texts were extracted, coded and condensed into categories and themes. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged "Professional as GP and ambassador to general practice", "Committed and student-centred educator", and "Coordinator of the learning environment". CONCLUSION: Experienced GP tutors describe their skills as a clinical tutor as complex and diversified. A strong professional identity within general practice is vital and GP tutors describe themselves as ambassadors to general practice, essential to the process of recruiting a new generation of general practitioners. Leaders of clinical education and health care planners must understand the complexity in a clinical tutor's assignment and provide adequate support, time, and resources in order to facilitate a sustainable tutorship and a good learning environment, which could also improve the necessary recruitment of future GPs.