Teaching capacity in general practice: results from a survey of practices and supervisors in South Australia

Abstract

<h4>Objective</h4>To ascertain the teaching load of general practices, the capacity for expansion of general practice-based teaching and the support required to achieve this.<h4>Design, setting and participants</h4>Questionnaire-based survey of general practitioners and practices who were teaching medical students, junior doctors or GP registrars in partnership with the Adelaide to Outback GP Training Program or the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide in South Australia in 2007.<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Current teaching load of general practices; GPs' reasons for teaching; capacity of practices to increase teaching loads; and support required to realise practices' full teaching capacity.<h4>Results</h4>In 2007, the 76 practices involved in the survey taught, in total, 326 medical students, 39 junior doctors and 84 GP registrars. Exposing students and doctors to general practice was cited most often by the 194 GP respondents as the reason for teaching. Few practices rated the support payments for teaching as adequate or fairly adequate. A number of practices were able to increase their teaching load within their current levels, with most being able to teach more medical students (39% of practices) or registrars (42% of practices). All practices able to increase their teaching load stated that their capacity to expand was conditional on extra resources, including more physical space, subsidies and teachers.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Scope exists to increase teaching in the general practices surveyed and is related to the level, or levels, of teaching undertaken by the practices. Targeted support seems essential if practices are to increase their teaching load.