title: How can a postgraduate professional education and development course benefit general practitioners?: a qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The rationale for 'professional education and development' (PED) courses is to support general practitioners, enabling them to access a range of theoretical and practical skills within a supportive schema. It aims to identify whether and how a regional PED course has had a beneficial impact upon participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study comprised a qualitative investigation of participants' assessed coursework portfolios. The content of each portfolio gives individual accounts of the impact of the course on personal and practice development. Permission to access extant portfolios was obtained from 16 recent alumni of the course. The anonymous written material was analysed by the research team for recurring discourses and themes using a thematic framework analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven major thematic categories were extrapolated from the data: leadership, resilience, quality improvement, change management, development of new services, educational expertise, and patient safety. In each category, we found evidence that the course enabled development of practitioners by enhancing knowledge and skills which had a positive impact upon their self-perceived effectiveness and motivation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Extended specialty training is on the horizon but such courses may still serve a valuable purpose for current trainees and the existing general practitioners workforce which will be responsible for leading the shift towards community-based service delivery.
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3287-3183
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agius
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Manchester, United Kingdom ; University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9391-6680
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8152-628X
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Lancashire Area Team (NHS England), Preston, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2791-0800
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luckhurst
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Manchester, United Kingdom ; University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6018-1435
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Manchester, United Kingdom ; University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5476-495X
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ward
keywords: General practitioners; Motivation; Patient safety; Professional education; Quality improvement