Missing topics for the newly established general practice-focused curriculum for medical students in Hessia/Germany: a mixed-methods approach.

Abstract

Since autumn 2022, 6.5% of the newly assigned medical students in Hessia, Germany (Universities of Marburg, Frankfurt, and Gießen) receive admission to medical studies under the condition to pursue their future careers in the field of general practice in a rural area. Students are bound by contract to work in general practice for at least 10 years and will receive special extracurricular training during their studies at the university. Nationally, this system is without comparison. To optimise the special extracurricular training, we explore what topics need to be taught, or added to normal teaching, to best prepare the future GPs for their work in primary care. Furthermore, we enquire into methods to train the needed skills. We follow a mixed-methods approach. First, we have interviewed ten outpatient specialists in daily contact with general practice: namely specialists for orthopedy, urology, ophthalmology, and surgery. Furthermore, we conducted ten interviews with newly qualified as well as experienced GPs. Second, we performed three group interviews with medical students in higher semesters and three with GPs in training. Between these four groups similarities and differences will be analysed. We further plan a quantitative survey that will be given to 50 students and about 50 GP trainees allowing for validation and prioritising of our results. We will present our preliminary results divided into three sectors: which topics, methods, and competences should be taught. We have mainly found similarities on the three main factors in all interviewed groups, yet different perspectives result in varying prioritisations.