Piloting a quality improvement (QI) project in final year general practice trainees: setting up and evaluating the processes.

There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of educational initiatives designed to support and encourage training doctors to undertake quality improvement projects (QIP) at their workplace. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of the RCGP proposal to implement a QIP in the final year of training. An educational intervention was designed and delivered to a group of GP trainees six months before the end of their training. This comprised facilitated small group work, web resources and guiding paperwork to structure meetings between the trainee and trainer to monitor and support the development of the project. The projects were marked and presented to a panel. The evaluation included a questionnaire to trainees, interviews with trainees and trainers and a focus group with facilitators and markers. The results suggest that the educational intervention was feasible and acceptable to GP trainees, trainers and practices. It resulted in an increase in confidence of GP trainees in understanding quality improvement methodologies and in undertaking QIP in general practices. In particularly, GP trainees highly valued the experience and leadership skills gained through engagement in change management which was viewed as advantageous for their future careers. Facilitated small group meetings and support from others in the practice were most useful resources supporting the development of QIP.