General practitioner teachers’ job satisfaction and their medical students' wish to join the field – a correlational study

Abstract

BackgroundThere will be increasing competition for young physicians worldwide as more and more physicians retire. While enthusiasm towards GP work is important for GP teachers as role models, satisfaction within the profession has declined. This study aims to determine if medical students’ desire to become GPs is related to the job satisfaction of their teaching GPs and explore the factors tied to this job satisfaction.MethodsIn this cross-sectional, correlational study, teaching GPs of the University of Bern and the fourth year medical students completing internships with them filled in separate questionnaires.ResultsWhether or not the GP teacher is perceived by a student to be satisfied with her/his job is correlated to that student’s satisfaction with the internship, which in turn, is correlated with student’s wish to be a GP after the internship. Results show which factors are most related to GP job satisfaction and the effect of working hours and their composition.ConclusionsMedical students’ perception of their GP teachers’ job satisfaction positively affect their wish to become GPs, and their satisfaction with their internships adds to this. Enhancing the positive aspects of GP work, such as recognition, and improving negative ones, such as administrative duties, are necessary to attract medical students into the GP field.

Pilot phase evaluation of the elective general practice class: results of student surveys of the first two years

“…Accordingly, our initial results largely confirm those of publications of overview character which describe experiences from similar educational projects with peer group character [10], [15]. A current German cross-sectional survey showed similar effects favouring a general practitioner's career path as a result of taking part in general medical educational projects [20].…”

“…The strong correlations between the students' (subsequent) preference for a general practitioner career path and the commitment of the lecturers, as well as the intensity of support and the interaction management in the project once again support the interpretation that a positive role model by the mentors is largely responsible for this [10], [15]. Currently ongoing international studies show that, in spite of positive educational benefits, even elaborately designed and realised curricular interventions have less influence upon the choice of medical specialty and the location of a practice than personal “practical experiences” [16], [17].…”

“…The generally accepted hypothesis of such initiatives is that the preferences for the (future) choice of speciality depend strongly on beginning as early as possible, on the time scope and the quality of the primary health care – related educational offering [9]. Beyond the academic offering, a comparable study was able to show that particularly medical lecturer with high professional satisfaction acted as a role model [10]. The objective of the KAM is to increase the number of Halle medical students interested in establishing a practice as a general practitioner in rural regions for the long term by early, individual and mentored practice orientation.The present article gives an initial overview and educational evaluation of the KAM participants for the pilot phase of the 2011/12 winter semester to the 2013 summer semester.…”

Family Medicine Department Chairs’ Opinions Regarding Scope of Practice

“…16 Wright and Carrese's 17 work on role modeling found that potential role models must meet a certain level of clinical skill and demonstrate good verbal and nonverbal behavior, which are often prerequisites to being a department chair. Evidence that both residents and faculty view chairs as role models comes from a study that asked faculty to identify colleagues who were "clinically excellent" and residents to identify which faculty were role models.…”

How can medical schools encourage students to choose general practice as a career?

“…5 Although many aspects of GP job satisfaction are beyond the remit of medical schools, they can at least ensure that GP teachers are properly supported. An optional teaching qualification could open up a career path into academia for experienced GPs.…”