The Training of Undergraduate Medical Students in General Medical Practice and Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review

Langalibalele Honey Mabuza,Sbongile Joyce Makhudu,Mosa Moshabela,Roisin E Drysdale,Gabriel Gyang Darong

doi:10.2174/1874944502114010555

Abstract

Background:Undergraduate medical students are trained to acquire a general medical practice overview on qualifying. This training forms a foundation for primary health care service or further training towards a specialty of choice.Objective:The aim of the study was to determine the scope of published scientific literature on the training of undergraduate medical students in “general medical practice” and “primary health care,” exploring how these two concepts are understood, the pedagogical approaches employed by the trainers, the training platforms and the challenges encountered during the training.Methods:The review followed the five steps recommended by Arksey and O’Malley. Using the specified eligibility criteria, the research team systematically screened titles, abstracts, and full articles. Data were entered into Google Forms spreadsheets, which was followed by inductive data analysis of key themes.Results:130 articles were eligible for inclusion in the study. Thematic analysis yielded eight themes: definition of “general medical practice” and “PHC”, pedagogical approaches (conventional, PBL, teams and CBME), training platforms (tertiary and rural), medical students’ trainers (faculty, GPs and patients), training content, trainers’ and trainees’ perceptions, and challenges encountered.Conclusion:This scoping review has revealed that general medical practice and primary health care are approaches to holistic patient care taught at undergraduate medical training. Primary health care and general medical training are mainly undertaken in GP practices and rural settings. Competency-based medical education is emerging as an appropriate pedagogical method towards ‘fit-for-purpose’ training. The inclusion of patients as trainers in general medical practice and primary health care is yielding positive results.

Highlights

Undergraduate medical students are trained to acquire a general medical practice overview on qualifying
This scoping review has revealed that general medical practice and primary health care are approaches to holistic patient care taught at undergraduate medical training
Primary health care and general medical training are mainly undertaken in general medical practitioner (GP) practices and rural settings

Summary

Introduction

Undergraduate medical students are trained to acquire a general medical practice overview on qualifying This training forms a foundation for primary health care service or further training towards a specialty of choice. A similar trend is followed in Africa [14, 15], where a GP is a ‘medical officer’ in private practice, who (unlike a ‘family physician’) does not have any further qualification following the UG medical training [16, 17] It can, be argued that the various approaches in the training of a general medical practitioner are determined by the expectations of service delivery in the workplace, post-qualification, which in turn, informs the nature and emphasis of the training at the UG level. The extent to which this definition has influenced UG medical training needs exploration

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion