Defining and measuring denigration of general practice in medical education

Allsopp, Gail; Rosenthal, Joe; Blythe, Jennie; Taggar, Jaspal S

Abstract

There is a workforce crisis in NHS general practice (GP). It is estimated that in order to meet future health care needs around 50% of current medical students will need to choose a career in GP. Positive role modelling is an influential factor in medical students’ career choice, but denigration of primary care during medical training may undermine aspirations of students considering GP as a career. This article discusses the importance of medical schools detecting and managing denigration of GP in their curricula and, for the first time, suggests an objective approach to the measurement of denigration. Four facets of what constitutes denigration are discussed and proposed as a collective measure. These are: language used about GP, proportion of curriculum time spent by students in GP, accurate representation of the clinical content of GP and equity of funding between hospital and GP placements. Furthermore, we discuss the key ethical and legal challenges that are faced by medical schools and, indeed, healthcare settings, that need to be overcome to enable proactive measurement and management of denigration.

Citation

Allsopp, G., Rosenthal, J., Blythe, J., & Taggar, J. S. (2020). Defining and measuring denigration of general practice in medical education. Education for Primary Care, 31(4), 205-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2020.1768440

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 9, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 21, 2020
• Publication Date: May 21, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 19, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 22, 2021
• Journal: Education for Primary Care
• Print ISSN: 1473-9879
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-990X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 205-209
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2020.1768440
• Keywords: Denigration; General practice; Medical Education
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4470935
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14739879.2020.1768440
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Education for Primary Care on 21 May 2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14739879.2020.1768440