Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Amir H Sam

Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Centre

Head of Imperial College School of Medicine, Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

a.sam

 
 
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Location

 

148Reynolds BuildingCharing Cross Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Misky:2022,
author = {Misky, A and Shah, R and Meeran, K and Kingsbury, M and Sam, A and Salem, V},
journal = {BMC Medical Education},
pages = {1--11},
title = {Understanding concepts of generalism and specialism amongst medical students at a research-intensive London Medical School},
url = {https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-022-03355-1},
volume = {22},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BackgroundMany prominent UK medical organisations have identified a need for more generalist clinicians to address the complex requirements of an aging society. We sought to clarify attitudes towards “Specialists” and “Generalists” amongst medical students and junior doctors at Imperial College School of Medicine.MethodsA survey exploring medical students’ beliefs was followed up by qualitative analysis of focus groups of medical students and Imperial-graduate foundation year doctors.ResultsFirst year medical students associated specialists with academia and higher income, and generalists with ease of training and job availability. Senior (Years 5/6) medical students associated specialists even more firmly with broader influence and academic work, whilst generalists were assigned lower prestige but the same workload as specialists. The medicalstudent focus group discussed concepts of Generalism pertaining only to Primary Care. In contrast, the foundation year doctor focus group revealed that Generalism was now seen to include some hospital care, and the perception that generalists sat lower in a knowledge hierarchy had been challenged.ConclusionPerceptions that Generalism is associated with lower prestige in the medical profession are already present at the very start of medical school and seem to be reinforced during undergraduate training. In early postgraduate clinical practice, the perceived knowledge and prestige hierarchy lessens. These findings can help inform curriculum redesign and the promotion of Generalism as a rewarding career aspiration.
AU  - Misky,A
AU  - Shah,R
AU  - Meeran,K
AU  - Kingsbury,M
AU  - Sam,A
AU  - Salem,V
EP  - 11
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 1472-6920
SP  - 1
TI  - Understanding concepts of generalism and specialism amongst medical students at a research-intensive London Medical School
T2  - BMC Medical Education
UR  - https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-022-03355-1
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96231
VL  - 22
ER  -
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