Preparing for leadership in General Practice: a qualitative exploration of how GP trainees learn about leadership

Abstract

Background and Objectives The recent rise to prominence of leadership in healthcare worldwide has prompted those involved in medical education to consider how to facilitate the learning of effective leadership. The focus of research has been on the effectiveness of formal curriculum activities, but curricular theory suggests that trainee doctors are also likely to learn about leadership through the informal curriculum. The apparent lack of medical education literature relating to the study of leadership learning through the informal curriculum indicates that there is a need to better understand how trainee doctors learn about leadership. Our objective was to explore how GP trainees learn about leadership in their GP training practices. Methods Epistemologically grounded in social constructionism, this research involved 15 semistructured interviews with GP trainees at the point of completing their training. Interviews were conducted using an online video conferencing method, audio-taped, transcribed, and analysed using thematic framework analysis to identify ways in which trainees had learned about leadership. Results Trainees described learning through observation of leadership behaviour across the entire practice team, and we identified three learning processes which contributed to leadership development; evaluating leadership, formulating views on leadership, and

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“…They tended to view leadership courses negatively, preferring informal leadership. The informal curriculum was considered to be valuable in developing leadership during residency and the informal mentor was viewed as having innate mentoring skills, with the resident more likely to see their mentor as someone to follow or as a role model ( Nicol & Gordon, 2018 ). This was similar to our study, in that the residents learned a lot from their supervisors/ and mentors, through role modelling and coaching.…”

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