Understanding concepts of generalism and specialism amongst medical students at a research-intensive London medical school.
Career
Curriculum
Generalist
Specialist
Journal
BMC medical education
ISSN: 1472-6920
Titre abrégé: BMC Med Educ
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101088679
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
18 Apr 2022
18 Apr 2022
Historique:
received:
12
08
2021
accepted:
11
03
2022
entrez:
19
4
2022
pubmed:
20
4
2022
medline:
21
4
2022
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Many prominent UK medical organisations have identified a need for more generalist clinicians to address the complex requirements of an aging society. We sought to clarify attitudes towards "Specialists" and "Generalists" amongst medical students and junior doctors at Imperial College School of Medicine. A survey exploring medical students' beliefs was followed up by qualitative analysis of focus groups of medical students and Imperial-graduate foundation year doctors. First year medical students associated specialists with academia and higher income, and generalists with ease of training and job availability. Senior (Years 5/6) medical students associated specialists even more firmly with broader influence and academic work, whilst generalists were assigned lower prestige but the same workload as specialists. The medical student focus group discussed concepts of Generalism pertaining only to Primary Care. In contrast, the foundation year doctor focus group revealed that Generalism was now seen to include some hospital care, and the perception that generalists sat lower in a knowledge hierarchy had been challenged. Perceptions that Generalism is associated with lower prestige in the medical profession are already present at the very start of medical school and seem to be reinforced during undergraduate training. In early postgraduate clinical practice, the perceived knowledge and prestige hierarchy lessens. These findings can help inform curriculum redesign and the promotion of Generalism as a rewarding career aspiration.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Many prominent UK medical organisations have identified a need for more generalist clinicians to address the complex requirements of an aging society. We sought to clarify attitudes towards "Specialists" and "Generalists" amongst medical students and junior doctors at Imperial College School of Medicine.
METHODS
METHODS
A survey exploring medical students' beliefs was followed up by qualitative analysis of focus groups of medical students and Imperial-graduate foundation year doctors.
RESULTS
RESULTS
First year medical students associated specialists with academia and higher income, and generalists with ease of training and job availability. Senior (Years 5/6) medical students associated specialists even more firmly with broader influence and academic work, whilst generalists were assigned lower prestige but the same workload as specialists. The medical student focus group discussed concepts of Generalism pertaining only to Primary Care. In contrast, the foundation year doctor focus group revealed that Generalism was now seen to include some hospital care, and the perception that generalists sat lower in a knowledge hierarchy had been challenged.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Perceptions that Generalism is associated with lower prestige in the medical profession are already present at the very start of medical school and seem to be reinforced during undergraduate training. In early postgraduate clinical practice, the perceived knowledge and prestige hierarchy lessens. These findings can help inform curriculum redesign and the promotion of Generalism as a rewarding career aspiration.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35436928
doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03355-1
pii: 10.1186/s12909-022-03355-1
pmc: PMC9017034
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
291Informations de copyright
© 2022. The Author(s).
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