GPEx, in association with the University of Adelaide and GPSA, are undertaking a study on the financial costs and revenue associated with teaching and supervision in Australian general practices [link to project clarification document on GPSA website]. First, we want to extend our thanks to the supervisors and practice managers who have been involved in this project.
We have finished interviewing supervisors and practice managers and found that often “teaching a registrar takes a village”. The substantial investment from the supervisor/s and the practice manager were evident. Practice level (eg., having experienced supervisors) and system level (eg., having a suite of resources) factors were seen to enable the teaching and supervision of registrars.
An important theme was that this is not a “one size fits all” model and there was substantial variation across practices. Practices and supervisors want to retain registrars after training and are invested in developing the future GP workforce because they love teaching. These findings informed the development of an online national survey, for which data collection has concluded. A cost revenue analysis is underway and a report of the findings will be available in 2022.
Below are some of the key findings so far:
What the practices said:
It’s not just the supervision and teaching
The practice manager invests substantial time too
Teaching a registrar takes a village
There are other financial and non-financial costs
It is difficult to quantify
It is not a one size fits all model
It is part of a complex bigger picture
What makes it easier….
Practice level
Patient scheduling
Experienced supervisors and practice
Flexible practice
Efficient medicare billings
Relationship with registrars
System Level
Available suite of resources
Supervisors engaging in activities they enjoy and see the value in
Practice-registrar fit
Multiple registrars
Opportunity for longer placements
Why do we do it?
Keeping registrars after training
Keeping up to date
Intrinsic motivation to support the development to training our future GPs
The love of teaching
Visit the GPSA Research page for future updates on this research and it’s findings.