Do school students want to be General Practitioners?

Problem

General practice is currently facing a recruitment crisis. One possible solution suggested is to raise awareness in high school students of general practice and the role of General Practitioners (GPs).

Approach

For the past two years, we have organised a “My day in General Practice” for year 12 college and school students who were participating in Keele’s widening participation program “Steps 2 Medicine”. They were offered the opportunity to spend a full day in a local GP surgery. The students were briefed about the visits, especially regarding confidentiality, behavior and dress code. Each student completed a pre-visit questionnaire to explore their views of general practice and the role of GPs. The practice visit was organised using a simple observation and activity log sheet entitled “My day in General Practice”.Following the visits, students gave written and verbal feedback and their attitude toward general practice was reassessed.

Findings

Exposure of college and school students to the authentic learning environment of general practice can change their attitude towards the role of GPs and the attractiveness of general practice as a future career.

Consequences

This will likely impact on applications to medical school and improve diversity of future health professionals.