GP Training
The practice has been involved in teaching and training medical students, nursing students and newly qualified doctors for over 20 years.
Dr Ross Reid, the Senior Partner in the practice, has been a GP trainer for many years, and is also an associate advisor at the Tayside Centre for General Practice, where he is particularly involved in protected learning and medical education. Dr Duncan Foster, has been a GP trainer for 4 years, and is the lead trainer here for the 3rd year. Dr Elaine Matthews will be undertaking the Prospective Trainers Course in May 2008.
Dr Matthews as 'currently undertaking' the Prospective Trainer's Course
Medical students (usually in their 4th or 5th years of study) are often with us for 4 weeks at a time. They will consult ‘in tandem’ with the GP and will accompany the GP on visits and calls. They will also spend time with the Practice Nursing team, the District Nurses, Midwives, Health Visitors, Practice Pharmacist and Practice Manager during their placement. We aim to give them a greater appreciation of the many aspects involved in working in General Practice. The reception staff will always inform you if there is a student ‘sitting in’ on the surgery that you are attending, and you may always ask to see the GP alone if you prefer.
Newly qualified doctors, known as Foundation Year 1 (FY1) or Foundation Year 2 (FY2), are placed with the practice in 4-month blocks. These are fully qualified doctors with a few hospital posts behind them, who come to work in General Practice as part of their ongoing learning and training. They are fully supported and tutored during this period by our practice trainers and tutors, who follow a structured programme developed by NHS Education and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
After the Foundation Years, future general practitioners may enter Specialist Training. In this regard, the practice has traditionally welcomed a new GP Registrar in early August of each year, and these doctors remain with the practice for twelve months. In 2007, the GP training scheme underwent a major overhaul, and the Registrar training is now part of a three-year cycle incorporating 18-months of hospital working with 18-months of GP placement.
from August 2009 our registrar will be Dr Joanna Stenke. She will be with us until August 2010. During this time, her trainer will be Dr Reid, but all the practice partners will be involved in teaching and mentoring. Dr Forster will undertake normal surgery sessions. Some surgeries may involved the use of the video camera, but permission will always be sought by the patient in this case, and these videos are solely used for training purposes. The registrars attend regular teaching sessions at the Tayside Centre for General Practice and work through a continual assessment process with the membership exam for the Royal College of Practitioners as the final hurdle.