Developing methods of evaluation appropriate to undergraduate teaching in general practice at Glasgow University

Murray, Thomas Stuart (1977) Developing methods of evaluation appropriate to undergraduate teaching in general practice at Glasgow University. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The teaching of general practice in the undergraduate medical curriculum now takes place in all medical schools in the United Kingdom. The main expansion has taken place after the Report of the Royal Commission on Medical Education in 1968. The teaching in general practice was introduced into already crowded curricula and it has therefore been important to justify this teaching. The developments at each University have been dependent on the local circumstances and this has led to a variety of teaching methods. The need for general practice teaching is discussed and this is followed by a description of the present teaching at all the Universities in the United Kingdom. Methods of evaluation have undergone recent changes and the methods used in this thesis are those that are accepted by educationalists. The undergraduate teaching of general practice presents difficulties in an evaluation. Firstly with the teaching being new, the literature is sparse on the subject and guide-lines are difficult to find. Secondly, almost all the teaching is carried out by full-time general practitioners; the students are in groups of two or four and observational data is impossible to obtain without a large team of evaluators. Thirdly, the teaching of general practice at present is not subjected to traditional examination techniques and therefore data cannot be compiled from that source. Traditional evaluation depended on measurable data and it is this which has had most criticism because it is too restrictive and misses the complexity of the teaching/learning situation. The current approaches give a more global view of the teaching but all evaluation procedures have advantages and disadvantages. In the present study a number of approaches have been useds utilising the advantages of the different methods and recognising some of the disadvantages. The teaching of general practice in Glasgow was expanding during the time of study; some parts were developing while others were an established part of the teaching and these factors had to be taken in account when choosing methods of evaluation. The teaching in third year, when the student is present at a patient's initial consultation in a new illness was introduced at the beginning of the present study. A pilot study was carried out to determine the feasibility and desirability of this teaching. As a result of this the teaching was given in the following academic year to the majority of students in the year. Further Valuation was carried out and as a result this teaching is now an accepted part of the curriculum. Any innovation in general practice teaching in Glasgow will continue to be assessed in this way and will not be introduced into the curriculum unless it adds a further dimension to the hospital teaching. The opinions of both students and tutors are sought early and any alterations can be introduced at an early stage. The teaching in fourth years the long-term care of the chronic sick, is an accepted part of the curriculum and the introduction of recording booklets allowed the teaching to be standardised and both the teaching and the students to be evaluated. The teaching in fifth year was at an early stage at the beginning of the present study and the methods chosen for evaluation were similar to those used in third year. The Department of General Practice in Glasgow introduced to the teaching of medical students the technology of a computer. This study was part of a National Programme and was an innovation in a British medical school. This new teaching method was evaluated and the print-outs of the students' performance which the computer could provide gave an additional method of evaluation. Computer-assisted learning is now being used in other Departments in the medical school and the teaching material and methods are being transferred to other Universities. This teaching method has considerable application in medicine and further development will continue. Any teaching method using high technology can be difficult to justify on an economic basis but in medicine with the high cost of training a doctor, this teaching can be cost-effective. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: J H Barber
• Keywords: Health education, Medicine, Instructional design
• Date of Award: 1977
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1977-73129
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73129