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Background
Despite a paucity of evidence to guide teaching about medical professionalism and ethical issues, there is a widespread consensus that medical students should learn about these issues on clinical placements. Exploring the confidence of general practitioners (GPs) in teaching various topics will identify areas for further discussion, support and/or training.
Methods
A survey was developed and distributed to 65 teaching practices. Thirty-seven GPs responded by rating their confidence in teaching about 32 different ethical issues.
Results
Overall, GPs were confident in teaching about these issues. Confidence was lowest for doctors' social and political responsibilities; ethical lapses in colleagues; impairment in colleagues; cross-cultural issues; and moral motivation, judgement, courage and sensitivity.
Discussion
Further training for GP teachers may be particularly useful in the important areas of impairment and lapses in colleagues, and cross-cultural issues. Uncertainty about the scope of doctors' social and political responsibilities may limit GP confidence in teaching in these areas.
Keywords
general practice; education, medical; ethics
In addition to improving their clinical knowledge and skills, medical students learn about medical ethics and professionalism in general practice during clinical placements with general practitioner (GP) teachers. A recently published Australian study reported that GP teachers readily identify a diverse range of common and important ethical issues in urban general practice,1 but there are no published studies of Australian GP teachers' confidence in teaching medical students about particular ethical issues during their general practice placements.
The aim of this study was to identify common and important ethical issues that GP teachers are less confident in teaching, to encourage further discussion and to inform the provision of appropriate training and support in these areas.
Methods
A survey consisting of 32 common and/or important ethical issues that arise in general practice was mailed to every general practice in Brisbane that placed a University of Queensland third-year medical student in the final 8-week clinical placement block in 2011. Selection of issues was based on international literature about medical students' experiences of ethics and professionalism while on clinical placements2-5 and on interview transcripts from a study in which 13 Australian urban GP teachers from diverse general practices described ethical issues that arose in their clinical work.1 The Jameton determinants of moral action, as described by Kelly and Nisker,5...