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Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives

BACKGROUND: Learning plans are a compulsory component of the training and assessment requirements of general practice (GP) registrars in Australia. There is a small but growing number of studies reporting that learning plans are not well accepted or utilised in general practice training. There is a...

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Autores principales: Garth, Belinda, Kirby, Catherine, Silberberg, Peter, Brown, James
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4992211/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27542356
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0736-8
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author Garth, Belinda
Kirby, Catherine
Silberberg, Peter
Brown, James
author_facet Garth, Belinda
Kirby, Catherine
Silberberg, Peter
Brown, James
author_sort Garth, Belinda
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Learning plans are a compulsory component of the training and assessment requirements of general practice (GP) registrars in Australia. There is a small but growing number of studies reporting that learning plans are not well accepted or utilised in general practice training. There is a lack of research examining this apparent contradiction. The aim of this study was to examine use and perceived utility of formal learning plans in GP vocational training. METHODS: This mixed-method Australian national research project utilised online learning plan usage data from 208 GP registrars and semi-structured focus groups and telephone interviews with 35 GP registrars, 12 recently fellowed GPs, 16 supervisors and 17 medical educators across three Regional Training Providers (RTPs). Qualitative data were analysed thematically using template analysis. RESULTS: Learning plans were used mostly as a log of activities rather than as a planning tool. Most learning needs were entered and ticked off as complete on the same day. Learning plans were perceived as having little value for registrars in their journey to becoming a competent GP, and as a bureaucratic hurdle serving as a distraction rather than an aid to learning. The process of learning planning was valued more so than the documentation of learning planning. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides creditable evidence that mandated learning plans are broadly considered by users to be a bureaucratic impediment with little value as a learning tool. It is more important to support registrars in planning their learning than to enforce documentation of this process in a learning plan. If learning planning is to be an assessed competence, methods of assessment other than the submission of a formal learning plan should be explored. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0736-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-49922112016-08-21 Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives Garth, Belinda Kirby, Catherine Silberberg, Peter Brown, James BMC Med Educ Research Article BACKGROUND: Learning plans are a compulsory component of the training and assessment requirements of general practice (GP) registrars in Australia. There is a small but growing number of studies reporting that learning plans are not well accepted or utilised in general practice training. There is a lack of research examining this apparent contradiction. The aim of this study was to examine use and perceived utility of formal learning plans in GP vocational training. METHODS: This mixed-method Australian national research project utilised online learning plan usage data from 208 GP registrars and semi-structured focus groups and telephone interviews with 35 GP registrars, 12 recently fellowed GPs, 16 supervisors and 17 medical educators across three Regional Training Providers (RTPs). Qualitative data were analysed thematically using template analysis. RESULTS: Learning plans were used mostly as a log of activities rather than as a planning tool. Most learning needs were entered and ticked off as complete on the same day. Learning plans were perceived as having little value for registrars in their journey to becoming a competent GP, and as a bureaucratic hurdle serving as a distraction rather than an aid to learning. The process of learning planning was valued more so than the documentation of learning planning. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides creditable evidence that mandated learning plans are broadly considered by users to be a bureaucratic impediment with little value as a learning tool. It is more important to support registrars in planning their learning than to enforce documentation of this process in a learning plan. If learning planning is to be an assessed competence, methods of assessment other than the submission of a formal learning plan should be explored. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0736-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2016-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4992211/ /pubmed/27542356 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0736-8 Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Garth, Belinda
Kirby, Catherine
Silberberg, Peter
Brown, James
Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title_full Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title_fullStr Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title_short Utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
title_sort utility of learning plans in general practice vocational training: a mixed-methods national study of registrar, supervisor, and educator perspectives
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4992211/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27542356
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0736-8
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