Putting principals back into practice: an evaluation of a re-entry course for vocationally trained doctors

Abstract

Background: Current recruitment difficulties in general practice have sharpened the interest of the profession in non-principals. No re-entry course for general practice has previously been run in the UK.

Aim: To design and evaluate a re-entry course for general practice.

Method: A re-entry course was developed to help doctors return to general practice as principals. A telephone interview was carried out with each delegate prior to their attendance on the course and was repeated one month and six months after the course to measure any change in career intentions and the perceived benefit of attending the course.

Results: Six months after the course, 11 out of 14 delegates had taken positive steps to return to general practice or had increased their time commitment to medicine. This contrasts with only one of the control group having made any steps to change career.

Conclusion: The course was evaluated and found to be beneficial, particularly in terms of increasing the confidence of the delegates.