RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Characterising generalism in clinical practice: a systematic mixed studies review protocol
JF BJGP Open
JO BJGP Open
FD Royal College of General Practitioners
SP BJGPO.2021.0029
DO 10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0029
VO 5
IS 4
A1 Kelly, Martina
A1 Cheung, Sarah
A1 Keshavjee, Mariam
A1 Stevenson, Anna
A1 Elliott, Josephine
A1 Singh, Surinder
A1 Foster, Madeleine
A1 Park, Sophie
YR 2021
UL http://bjgpopen.org/content/5/4/BJGPO.2021.0029.abstract
AB Background Generalist physician care is associated with improved patient outcomes. Despite initiatives to promote generalism in educational settings, recruitment to generalist disciplines remains less than required to serve societal needs. Increasingly this impacts not just general practice but also generalist specialties such as internal medicine, surgery, and paediatrics. One potential factor for this deficit is a lack of explicit attention to generalism as a praxis, including clarifying key aspects of generalist expertise.Aim To examine empirical clinical literature on generalism, and characterise how generalism is described and delivered by physicians in primary and secondary care.Design & setting A systematic mixed studies review (SMSR) including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods studies, and systematic reviews of physician generalist practice.Method MEDLINE, Psycinfo, SocINDEX, Embase, Ovid HealthSTAR, Scopus, and Web of Science will be searched for English language studies from 1999 to present, using a structured search. Given study heterogeneity, quality appraisal will not be performed. Two reviewers will perform study selection for each study. Data extraction will focus on how generalism is defined and characterised, including the clinical care provided by generalists and patient experiences of generalist care. Quantitative and qualitative data will be summarised in tabular and narrative form. Convergent synthesis design will then be used to synthesise quantitative and qualitative data.Conclusion Findings will characterise generalism and generalist practice from a grassroots clinical perspective. By identifying similarities and differences across generalist disciplines, this work will inform more focused educational initiatives on generalism at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including collaborations between generalist disciplines.