Preparation for general practice vocational training: time for a rethink

Formal training for general practice in Australia began with Commonwealth funding of the Family Medicine Program in 1973.1 Future general practitioners worked in hospital specialties relevant to general practice, and then learned while working as GPs, under supervision, in accredited training practices. Since then, general practice and hospital medicine have changed significantly, but the GP colleges’ requirements for hospital experience ahead of GP training remain. Given the bottleneck in hospital junior doctor training positions, and junior doctors’ concerns that their stressful, demanding workloads are of questionable educational value, it is timely to reconsider the effectiveness of this preparation for general practice.