The Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have collaborated to produce guidance on the design and delivery of general practice learning and teaching in UK medical schools. Two dedicated resources are now available, as outlined below.
Teaching General Practice
This undergraduate curriculum guide provides an outline of:
- The processes that support teaching undergraduates about general practice;
- Teaching content on placements and on campus;
- Teaching methods on placement and on campus.
Guidance is based on published evidence and current best practice in UK medical schools and has been refined through consultation with Medical Schools Council, General Medical Council, and others. It aims to support implementation of the 'By choice, not by chance' report to raise the profile of general practice at medical school.
We recommend that medical schools use this resource to inform thinking around the quantity, content, and process of general practice teaching, both on placements and on campus.
Download Teaching General Practice (PDF file, 484 KB)
Learning General Practice
A digital textbook for medical students, built on three overarching themes:
- Person-centred care;
- Population-centred care;
- Effective delivery of care.
Each principle is introduced by a short essay. Key reading and research related to the principle is then highlighted along with number of related learning activities and resources associated with it. The resource set can be read in any order, and can be used as the basis for one-to-one or small group tutorials. The principles can be applied to the wide variety of clinical cases that are seen in general practice and has been built with medical students and their learning in mind.
Download Learning General Practice (PDF file, 12 MB)
Virtual Primary Care
Developed by the Medical Schools Council and the Society of Academic Primary Care Heads of GP Teaching Group, Virtual Primary Care is an innovative, general practice based educational resource offering fly on the wall access to 150 diverse, real life primary care consultations. Every consultation has been tagged for clinical and educational content and is accompanied by a summary, associated learning points, references, and suggested student activities.
Together, Teaching General Practice, Learning General Practice, and Virtual Primary Care provide a comprehensive guide to contemporary general practice. Whilst the emphasis is on undergraduate learning, we hope that postgraduate trainees, practising clinicians, and GP teachers will also find the content useful.
For more information please contact member.programmes@rcgp.org.uk.
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