How does an increase in undergraduate teaching load affect GP teacher motivation? A grounded theory study using data from a new medical school.

The opening of a new medical school is a cause for celebration. Starting with a clean slate often gives the opportunity to adopt more modern teaching practices. However, encouraging large numbers of clinicians to start teaching and to adopt these new methods brings its own set of challenges. During the expansion phase of a new medical school, it was often noted that new teachers seemed to have considerable difficulties, and often expressed these as negativity towards student placements. This did not chime with much of the work from established schools, which seemed to evaluate expansion of teaching more positively. We wanted to better understand the issues involved. Semi-structured interviews were conducted involving GPs who had received medical students over the first four years of a newly established medical school. The aims were to assess the impact of the students on the new teachers, and to try to better understand why some teachers were experiencing difficulties. We collected qualitative and quantitative data at the interviews. The qualitative data were analysed using grounded theory which aims to link emerging themes together. The findings suggest that as the quantity of teaching medical students increases, the enjoyment and commitment to teaching may decrease. Concerns over the administration of teaching may begin to predominate. Two factors may help to reduce this: 1 Adequate investment in manpower and premises to reduce time and space constraints on teaching. 2 Practices considering themselves as teaching practices where education is a part of the practice identity.