Abstract
Purpose:The rationale for ‘professional education and development’ (PED) courses is to support general practitioners, enabling them to access a range of theoretical and practical skills within a supportive schema. It aims to identify whether and how a regional PED course has had a beneficial impact upon participants.Methods:The study comprised a qualitative investigation of participants’ assessed coursework portfolios. The content of each portfolio gives individual accounts of the impact of the course on personal and practice development. Permission to access extant portfolios was obtained from 16 recent alumni of the course. The anonymous written material was analysed by the research team for recurring discourses and themes using a thematic framework analysis.Results:Seven major thematic categories were extrapolated from the data: leadership, resilience, quality improvement, change management, development of new services, educational expertise, and patient safety. In each category, we found evidence that the course enabled development of practitioners by enhancing knowledge and skills which had a positive impact upon their self-perceived effectiveness and motivation.Conclusion:Extended specialty training is on the horizon but such courses may still serve a valuable purpose for current trainees and the existing general practitioners workforce which will be responsible for leading the shift towards community-based service delivery.
Highlights
In the United Kingdom, Health Education England is responsible for the education and training of all health professionals
It is notable that in the instances where general practitioners (GPs) are not part of a team the potential stress of the incidents was noted, as well as identifying the loss of ability to share learning more widely with the team. In considering whether this type of educational intervention may be of benefit to GPs, we purposefully focused upon extant documentation produced for personal and practice development planning
The plans formed a significant component of participants’ coursework submitted for formal assessment and in totality this reflective material provided a rich seam of qualitative data on the impact of the professional education and development’ (PED) course
Summary
In the United Kingdom, Health Education England is responsible for the education and training of all health professionals. In each of its regional offices, a postgraduate medical and dental education function supports the continuing professional development of general practitioners (GPs). Health Education North West (HENW), for example, has commissioned variations of an accredited postgraduate ‘professional education and development’ (PED) course for GPs since 1994 [1]. The course is predominantly focused on enabling professional and practice development, using reflective learning techniques in peer-groups of up to eight doctors for at least 18 months. It comprises the core modules of an MSc program accredited by one of the regional universities, devised and taught by local GP educationalists. Participants are required to submit practice development plans, personal education plans and a portfolio of work which includes a significant event analysis (SEA) and review of prog-
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of educational evaluation for health professions
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
