Abstract
My ideas on learning and teaching in primary care
I am currently half way through the GP trainer's course and hope to be a fully fledged GP trainer in March 2010. Having been a GP in Hackney, East London, for 5 years, I am now deemed suitable to take on the role of ‘mentor’, ‘supervisor’, ‘role-model’ or however you wish to describe it. In essence, it is the task of empowering a trainee to fulfil his or her potential as a well rounded clinician. In this role I hope to offer more to our profession than providing patient care and attempt to share any attributes and expertise I may have.
As I cycle to work each morning along Regents Canal, I ponder on the challenges ahead and the hurdles that I face in my future role; ‘will I be effective?’, ‘will my new trainee like my clinical and teaching style?’, ‘will there be a personality clash?’, ‘Will I be liked?’. More importantly, will my first trainee feel uncertain about the ‘novice trainer’ or the ‘inexperienced’ teacher at the helm of his or her future?
The GP training system is almost unique in having a ‘personal trainer’ throughout the GP registrar year facilitating an intimate and (hopefully) supportive relationship.
The GP trainer's course involves a 1 year Post Graduate Certificate in Education involving several study days, essays and a teaching assignment. There is much emphasis on the theory of learning and teaching with reference to literature. I find this stimulating and useful for a future teaching role.
Recently, I was chatting to our senior partner over coffee and on mentioning the essays and assignment deadline he lightly said:
‘Gosh! I did the GP trainer course many years ago—it consisted of a weekend course in Cambridge—at the end of which I was a GP trainer!’
How times have changed!
As a future GP trainer I hope to deliver a good standard of teaching in return for a high-quality GP of tomorrow. To achieve this ambition I endeavour to ensure the style and format of teaching given is effective and has a foundation of evidence to support its theory. I will work on a learning needs assessment for the trainee. This can begin early and is a dynamic document that will change and flourish as the registrar progresses. This allows for new challenges faced to be acknowledged and addressed.
Grant (2002) states that when needs have been assessed, the learning is more likely to lead to change in practice. But how does one assess needs? Personally, I find patients' unmet needs (PUNs) and doctors' educational needs (DENs) useful and I intend to promote this concept to my trainee. Eve (2000) describes his PUN and DEN theory as a tool that can be used across the spectrum of primary care. He describes how the tool encourages trainees to identify what they need to learn rather than what they want to learn. This is extremely valuable as trainees will be largely unaware of their learning needs at the start.
You may suspect some of this article is an extract from one of my essays—and you would be right! But I hope this has not reduced the sincerity of its content. As you can see—there seems to be no bottom to the depth of medical educational theory and for any of you planning to be GP trainers in the future—I hope this fills you with excitement!
I have 5000 words to write for the GP trainer's course by next month, which no doubt will add an unsavoury ingredient to my Easter break. The joys of training to be a trainer. All worth it.
I look forward to writing for you to stimulate your interest and pleasure. I wish all our readers a happy and fulfilling Easter!