GPEG ensures students are exposed to inspiring, interesting, high-quality experiences in primary care with consistently excellent teaching.
All students completing our final year exit survey in 2022 either agreed or strongly agreed that the GP component of the Cambridge medical course was a valuable part of their preparation for becoming a doctor.
These students said they valued the GP element of the medical course because it enabled them to:
- See lots of patients and encounter a wide range of conditions/presentations
- Have a sense of semi-independence/autonomy with a gradual increase in responsibility over the three years
- Feel a useful part of the team and develop close relationships with doctors in a welcoming and structured environment
- Experience high levels of support including detailed debriefing and constructive feedback which builds confidence
- Understand how healthcare is organised
- Test and develop their: clinical knowledge, diagnostic & clinical reasoning skills, consultation & examination skills, management planning skills, documenting skills, holistic thinking
- Consolidate and integrate their learning from across the medical course.
In 2022, our final year students said:
The GP placement is in my experience one of the most hands-on sections of medical school, in terms of histories, examinations and diagnostic reasoning. I think the combination of running your own clinic (which no other placement really has) with supervision of a senior doctor is what allows for this.”
The gradual increase in responsibility over the 3 years in terms of seeing patients alone and coming up with a management plan has been really useful.”
…[We learn to] differentiate between patients who are acutely unwell and needing urgent care versus those who could be managed in the community. Learning to manage uncertainty.”
GP is pretty much the only time we can see patients by ourselves, make plans and follow them up.”
GP allows you to constantly recall your knowledge of many specialties.”
Understanding the workings of primary care is the foundation of understanding how health care as a whole works.”