‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England
Objectives The number of UK graduates choosing General Practice training remains significantly lower than the current numbers required to meet the demands of the service. This work aims to explore medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences which lead to the development of these p...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-11-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/11/e073429.full |
| _version_ | 1797430603025481728 |
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| author | Hugh Alberti Kimberley Banner Melvyn Mark Jones Lindsey Margaret Pope Shehleen Arbab Khan |
| author_facet | Hugh Alberti Kimberley Banner Melvyn Mark Jones Lindsey Margaret Pope Shehleen Arbab Khan |
| author_sort | Hugh Alberti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives The number of UK graduates choosing General Practice training remains significantly lower than the current numbers required to meet the demands of the service. This work aims to explore medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences which lead to the development of these perceptions, and the ultimate impact of these on career intention.Design This mixed-methods, qualitative study used focus groups, semistructured interviews, longitudinal audio diary data and debrief interviews to explore and capture the experiences and perceptions of students in their first and penultimate years of university.Setting Three English medical schools.Participants Twenty students were recruited to focus groups from first and fourth/fifth year of study. All students in these years of study were invited to attend. Six students were recruited into the longitudinal diary study to further explore their experiences.Results This work identified that external factors, internal driving force and the ‘they say’ phenomenon were all influential on the development of perceptions and ultimately career intention. External factors may be split into human or non-human influences, for example, aspirational/inspirational seniors, family, peers (human), placements and ‘the push’ of GP promotion (non-human). Driving force refers to internal factors, to which the student compares their experiences in an ongoing process of reflection, to understand if they feel General Practice is a career they wish to pursue. The ‘they say’ phenomenon refers to a passive and pervasive perception, without a known source, whereby usually negative perceptions circulate around the undergraduate community.Conclusion Future strategies to recruit graduates to General Practice need to consider factors at an undergraduate level. Positive placement experiences should be maximised, while avoiding overtly ‘pushing’ GP onto students. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:30:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-66b3de51d6664241b774cb11f67de773 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:30:00Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-66b3de51d6664241b774cb11f67de7732023-12-02T04:00:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552023-11-01131110.1136/bmjopen-2023-073429‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in EnglandHugh Alberti0Kimberley Banner1Melvyn Mark Jones2Lindsey Margaret Pope3Shehleen Arbab Khan4School of Medical Education, Newcastle University, Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UKFaculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UKResearch Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London Medical School, London, UKSchool of Medicine Dentistry and Nursing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKCommunity Based Medical Education (CBME), Manchester Medical School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKObjectives The number of UK graduates choosing General Practice training remains significantly lower than the current numbers required to meet the demands of the service. This work aims to explore medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences which lead to the development of these perceptions, and the ultimate impact of these on career intention.Design This mixed-methods, qualitative study used focus groups, semistructured interviews, longitudinal audio diary data and debrief interviews to explore and capture the experiences and perceptions of students in their first and penultimate years of university.Setting Three English medical schools.Participants Twenty students were recruited to focus groups from first and fourth/fifth year of study. All students in these years of study were invited to attend. Six students were recruited into the longitudinal diary study to further explore their experiences.Results This work identified that external factors, internal driving force and the ‘they say’ phenomenon were all influential on the development of perceptions and ultimately career intention. External factors may be split into human or non-human influences, for example, aspirational/inspirational seniors, family, peers (human), placements and ‘the push’ of GP promotion (non-human). Driving force refers to internal factors, to which the student compares their experiences in an ongoing process of reflection, to understand if they feel General Practice is a career they wish to pursue. The ‘they say’ phenomenon refers to a passive and pervasive perception, without a known source, whereby usually negative perceptions circulate around the undergraduate community.Conclusion Future strategies to recruit graduates to General Practice need to consider factors at an undergraduate level. Positive placement experiences should be maximised, while avoiding overtly ‘pushing’ GP onto students.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/11/e073429.full |
| spellingShingle | Hugh Alberti Kimberley Banner Melvyn Mark Jones Lindsey Margaret Pope Shehleen Arbab Khan ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England BMJ Open |
| title | ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England |
| title_full | ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England |
| title_fullStr | ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England |
| title_short | ‘They say’: medical students’ perceptions of General Practice, experiences informing these perceptions, and their impact on career intention—a qualitative study among medical students in England |
| title_sort | they say medical students perceptions of general practice experiences informing these perceptions and their impact on career intention a qualitative study among medical students in england |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/11/e073429.full |
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