title: Clinical teachers working in primary care: what would they like changed in the medical school?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General practitioners (GPs) working as clinical teachers are likely to influence medical students' level of community-based learning. This paper aimed to ascertain clinical teachers' views in relation to The University of Auckland about their clinical learning environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 34 clinical teachers working in primary care contributed to this study. To gauge their level of involvement in teaching and learning, the clinical teachers were asked about issues such as their confidence, available time, sufficient clinical learning opportunities, clear learning objectives to teach students and what they would like changed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The GPs appeared confident, felt there were sufficient learning opportunities for students and that their students were part of the team. Less experienced teachers expressed less confidence than more experienced peers. There was some hesitancy in terms of coping with time and feedback. Some clinical teachers were unclear about the learning objectives presented to students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Several issues that emerged--including available time and financial rewards--are difficult to resolve. Curriculum and selection are evolving issues requiring constant monitoring and alignment with increasing numbers of students studying medicine, increased ethical awareness, more diverse teaching systems and more advanced technologies. Non-faculty clinicians need adequate representation on curriculum committees and involvement in clinical education initiatives. Issues of cultural competency and professional development were raised, suggesting the need for more established links between university and GPs.
authors: Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. s.hawken@auckland.ac.nz
authors: Susan J
authors: SJ
authors: Hawken
authors: Marcus A
authors: MA
authors: Henning
authors: Ralph
authors: R
authors: Pinnock
authors: Boaz
authors: B
authors: Shulruf
authors: Warwick
authors: W
authors: Bagg
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching