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Milestone for registrar experience project
A pioneering project providing a window into the day-to-day reality of GPs in training has now recorded one million consultations.
Registrars on the project provide feedback on their patient encounters, with the data used to identify areas for improved clinical decision making.
Gaining insight into the experience of general practice registrars, and what influences their clinical decisions, is invaluable to help shape how to best support them and ensure a smooth career transition.
Now, an Australian-first project documenting registrars’ educational and clinical experiences has hit a significant milestone, recording one million consultations last month.
The Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) project measures what registrars do, the types of patients and conditions they encounter, and their actions during the consultation. It also tracks how registrars’ practice changes during their training.
ReCEnT has so far had more than 6600 registrars and almost 2000 general practices participate.
Professor Parker Magin is Senior Research Unit Academic Advisor with the RACGP’s GP Training Medical Education team, and Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
‘The ReCEnT project’s one million consultations is a reflection of the longevity of the project which, in turn, is a function of the continued utility of the project for GP vocational training,’ he told newsGP.
What started out as a pilot study in 2009 by a former regional training provider, ReCEnT quickly grew, with registrars across most of Australia now participating in the project.
The RACGP says it is an ‘invaluable’ resource for registrars, supervisors and practice managers to gather information to better understand registrars’ experiences to inform what areas of practice they may need to improve.
As the project’s Chief Investigator until recently, Professor Magin says ReCEnT findings are used to facilitate a range of education and training actions.
‘For example, registrar reflection on practice, medical educator teaching, education program design, and GP training policy,’ he said.
Registrars on the project complete feedback forms on their daily patient encounters, with details recorded from 60 consecutive consultations and the process repeated in each of their three general practice terms.
This feedback is compared to other national registrar data, with the aim to help identify where they need to make more informed decisions, as well as targeted Fellowship exam preparation.
Professor Magin said reaching this milestone after 16 years of ReCEnT’s operation has been dependent upon the contributions of collaborators and support from the RACGP and other training organisations.
‘ReCEnT is a large and complex program requiring input and collaboration of multiple stakeholders – including the ReCEnT team, participating registrars, supervisors, practices, medical educators, external collaborators, academic registrars and their supervisors, and administration staff,’ he said.
The complete range of ReCEnT resources is available on the RACGP website.
ReCEnT is funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and approved by the RACGP’s National Research and Evaluation Ethics Committee.
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