Conflict, Culture and Identity in GP Training

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Jennifer L. Johnston

   Pages 1-19

3. GP Identities in Hospital

   • Jennifer L. Johnston

   Pages 21-42

4. Maria’s Narrative

   • Jennifer L. Johnston

   Pages 43-59

5. Paradigms in Conflict

   • Jennifer L. Johnston

   Pages 61-73

6. Pedagogy, Policy and Practice

   • Jennifer L. Johnston

   Pages 75-83

This book explores the identity work and conflicted perspectives of general practitioner (GP) trainees working in hospitals in the UK. Drawing on empirical and theoretical scholarship, and privileging the analysis of social language-in-use, Johnston describes primary care medicine as a separate paradigm with its own philosophy, identity and practice. Casting primary and secondary care in historical conflict, the perceived lower status of primary care in the world of medicine is explored. Significant identity challenges ensue for GP trainees positioned at the coalface of conflict. Problematising structures of GP training and highlighting how complex historical power dynamics play out in medical training, the author advocates for radical change in how GPs are trained in order to manage the current primary care recruitment and retention crisis.

• primary care
• general practice
• family medicine
• medical education
• doctor identity
• primary-secondary care interface
• patient safety

• Centre for Medical Education, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

  Jennifer L. Johnston

Dr Jennifer L. Johnston is a practising general practitioner (GP) and medical educationalist in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This work was developed from her PhD research, which won the Association for the Study of Medical Education’s Best Original Research Paper Award in 2016. She uses education for change and is committed to embedding social justice within medical education.

Policies and ethics