An out-of-programme experience in medical education

Visani, Bhakti; Ahuja, Neha; McKeown, Andrew

Abstract

In this article, we share our experiences as GP trainees in a full time out-of-programme experience (OOPE) in medical education, uniquely situated within the Primary Care Undergraduate Team at Imperial College London. We hope that sharing our experiences in undertaking this post (and discussing the associated benefits and challenges) will give GP trainees insights into an opportunity to further their interest in education and encourage them to seek similar posts.
There is a national mandate for half of graduating medical students to select general practice as a career to help support the shift of services from secondary to primary care (Department of Health, 2015; NHS England, 2016). With this changing focus, medical schools have an obligation to provide rich learning opportunities that are designed, led and delivered by passionate and appropriately qualified community clinicians. General practice is an excellent setting for students to learn authentically, with a multitude of patient presentations and opportunities for follow up. This has the potential to promote a generalist mind set for students (Alberti et al., 2017).
Teaching is a specialist skill in its own right, and is part of the core postgraduate RCGP curriculum. We need enthusiastic and well-trained educators within general practice to help support the national mandate and to share the joy of general practice with the next generation.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Feb 3, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Deposit Date: Jun 20, 2023
• Journal: InnovAiT: Education and inspiration for general practice
• Print ISSN: 1755-7380
• Electronic ISSN: 1755-7399
• Publisher: Royal College of General Practitioners
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 406-408
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1755738019890114
• Keywords: General Medicine