Keele GP Tutor Video

The aim was to provide as much experience as possible to the Keele students in all aspects of general practice, and hopefully, you know, learn something from them as well.

They bring a lot of enthusiasm to the practice, they really, you know, help raise the atmosphere. They're very inquisitive, they ask all the right questions, and they give us an opportunity to teach them and pass on the knowledge to the next generation.

I think it's quite important and rewarding to feel part of that learning journey, and you're watching them grow. It just adds for us, we love being a training practice.

We feel that obviously, we give them the opportunity but also, they bring so much into practice.

Not only are you teaching, but there is quite a bit of learning, you know, where you are actually gaining.

When they first start at the practice I usually undertake an induction with the students, so have a couple of hours where I get to know them.

We find out about their interests, educationally what they feel that they need to achieve.

So you try to make sure that the student feels comfortable, that they understand what we're trying to give them out of the placement, we understand what they're trying to get out of the placement, and so we try and give what they need from a University point of view, but we also try to give them something that they want.

Then when they start with the placement, one of my roles is to supervise every patient that they see, you know, depending on the level, which kind of students, if they are year threes or they are year fives, it's a different input, but in both cases, my role is to make sure the patients get seen, that the students understand what the patient did come for, they take a good history, that we discuss the management plan.

I also take a lot of interest in imparting my own experiences in general practice, so that they become overall well-rounded good doctors.

I think my favorite thing is, I think the students bring a fresh air to the practice, you know. When you do every day the same job, the same thing, with the same people all the time, it can get a bit monotonous. With having medical students it's having new people, new faces.

Some students comes with a lot of enthusiasm. We started with our third year medical students, and they're fun because it's all brand new to them, and by the time you get to our stage, you've kind of forgotten how exciting medicine can be, and seeing things for the first time, or watching them see things for the first time, is really nice, and it does bring you back a little bit to why you went into the job, because it's easy to forget in the day-to-day Monday on call.

I think when I just am having the teacher hat, for some reason I tend to concentrate more on the positive things of how I work, why I work, why am I a GP you know. So it's a it's a bit of a shift compared to, you know, when I'm actually doing my usual GP work. So that helps me to concentrate more on the positives of what I do, and I think that's it. It's something which really compliments the job.

Students can be a very good company. So you know, when you're consulting and you're pulling in 15, 30, 45 patients a day, and every patient has something that they want from you, having someone to talk to in between is really quite helpful actually. And you know, if you have a student for a number of weeks, or if they come to you in subsequent placements - I've been working long enough now I've ended up working with people who were formerly students, and it's quite a rich relationship often.

I think we've gained such a lot of a practice from having students.

So I've had students that have come back to us as Foundation Doctors, one of our current Salaried GP's used to be a fifth year here at the practice, which is amazing, and actually one of my previous Partner's was also a Keele fifth year at the practice. So there's something really amazing about seeing how people's careers kind of flourish and develop and kind of see them grow up - it's lovely.

The relationship that you build up with maybe, educators, the students, and maybe, other Health Care Professionals, and you can share experience and knowledge and it actually helps you grow and develop as a personal thing.

Undoubtedly. When when you say career, I mean it's definitely enhanced my knowledge because every time a medical student comes, they bring with them fresh ideas. Sometimes you do get suggestions from them on how to change the services, or provide improved services, but most of all they keep me on my toes.

Being a GP tutor actually enhances your clinical skills, your communication skills, your knowledge and probably your general interaction with maybe, other Health Professionals. As I was saying it's an enriching experience you know, not only for me but also for the practice, the practice team.

This enhances the whole thing you know, your career, your personal, because you talk to them not only about being a doctor, you know, their background, your background, they feel, you know, they feel, identify them in yourself especially students that are not from the UK, and all this knowing their experience, your experience enhances my career and their future careers too - I think it's brilliant.

It's kept me in practice in some ways, you know. It adds variety to my working week, to my working day, and it just keeps things fresh. So I think the extra interest that it provides is really good across the practice, but for me personally, I think it kind of gives me that variety I need to keep my enthusiasm at the level it usually is.

It's made look at how we run the practice and that's no bad thing, and sort of challenged us to come up with new ways of supporting our training of students, from the medical students right through to the registrars, so that's been a positive for everybody.

There's no doubt that having that good interaction with a student is the same as having a good interaction, you know, with a colleague that you're having challenges with, you know a business interaction with someone. And I've done lots of things subsequently in my career that were built on those skills that were honed teaching.

I can't recommend it highly enough, because the support that we get from Keele University is fantastic. The students that are posted are well briefed and they know exactly what to expect from a GP placement.

My first piece of advice is to be organised. If you're thinking of taking on students, have a set plan of how you want them to spend their time in the practice. I think the more organized you are the more that the student gets out of it and the more you benefit as a practice as well.

The best thing is just making sure the entire practice is on board with the idea of taking on medical students - they know where they're coming from and what their expectations are, so that they do properly integrate into the team together.

Especially if you're not a full-time GP - if you're part-time you need your colleagues to step in when you're not there, or other Health Care Professionals that are involved, but it's really worth doing.

It's generally a really positive experience. There's lots of support from Keele, so you know when students perhaps run into difficulties or there are issues, there's always a pathway to getting support with that - you're not kind of if you like, there's no burden associated with that.

I think is good for the practices to have students, to show them what is real life in general practice.

The other thing I was going to talk about was the cluster groups - I've quite enjoyed the opportunity to run the cluster groups. They're done on Microsoft Teams, you've got a set of practices around the area, or not not even around your area - some of them are quite far away. And so you set those up, you've got time allocated to do them, and you are allowed to meet some of the other medical students that are out there.

Also I do a PDT tutor, so a Personal Development Tutor for students that Keele give me from year two to year five, and then you meet with them two or three times a year, you check their portfolios, you make sure their wellbeing is fine, and you have a chit chat with the students, making sure that they feel comfortable, and it's amazing.

I have seen Keele grow from you know, step to step, so if you are talking in football terms you know, Keele was like a League One, League Two or whatever, now it's in the Champions League.

What I've enjoyed, is enhancing myself, or teaching myself and learning from them, and how to be a better GP myself, and that has come from students for a large extent.

I'd say go for it - it's really interesting as a clinician, they really do keep you on your toes, and like Dr Rhys said, they are good company.

Watching students grow and knowing that you actually played a role in that development, in that success in their lives, actually gives you a great sense of accomplishment.

I think it's great for the practice, the staff like having students around, I think the patients enjoy telling their stories to students, so I would say go for it.

Have the courage to give it a go - it's unlikely that you'll look back and regret it.