Barriers and facilitators to primary care research: views of GP trainees and trainers

Thank you so much for this article which has highlighted key gaps and opportunities to engage GP trainees and trainers in primary care research. In comparison to our colleagues in secondary care, primary care doctors are much less involved in research and less likely to incorporate research into their careers. As your survey found, <10% of GP trainers are interested in any part of the research process and only 38% of trainees reported an interest in an academic. This is not surprising seeing that our training does not encourage us to pursue active research and GPST1 application does not reward research efforts. In most secondary care training applications, there are points awarded for any research effort be it in the form of poster publications, local/international presentations, published journal articles, research degree(s), etc. In contrast, the GP training application process does not acknowledge any past or recent research activities. This already sends a message that GPs aren’t interested in research and applicants who are keen on research are likely to be put off coming into primary care. Nonetheless, GP trainees are encouraged and trained to analyse evidence-based research. The MRCGP AKT exam dedicates 10% of questions on evidence-based practice. In spite of this, research interest amongst GP trainees remains very low. Several factors have already been identified in this article. Lifestyle choice is a significant drive for most trainees coming to general practice. This includes GP trainees who already have family commitments which makes the prospect of undertaking research alongside primary care work unattractive. Another factor is that GPs genuinely don’t have the time to undertake research due to the ever-increasing clinical workload and staff shortages. This is a difficult problem to fix but I believe we can make small changes to GPST1 application in rewarding research efforts. As primary care records are fully electronic, artificial intelligence could play a key role in facilitating primary care research in providing useful insights from patient data. This was highlighted in a recently published article.¹

Reference

1. Majekodunmi A. Artificial intelligence: current and future impact on general practice. InnovAiT 2021; 14(12): 766–768. doi:10.1177/17557380211045101