Developing a teaching research culture for general practice registrars in Australia: a literature review

A review of MEDLINE [1996–2007], six websites and key informants produced 302 publications, which reduced to 35 articles, 7 books, and 9 policy documents.Key themes that emerged from a thematic analysis of the literature that GP educators need to consider when teaching registrars about research were [i] the need to understand that learning research is influenced by attitudes; [ii] the need to address organisational constraints on learning research; [iii] the need to identify the educational barriers on learning research; [iv] the need to understand there are gaps in GP research content – especially from GP registrars; And [v] the need to understand the value of research on the GP registrar's educational cycle of learning, which develops in a culture that allows research to flourish.Australian GP registrars will observe a research culture only if they encounter clinician-researchers paid to practice and conduct research in their general practice.The primary goal of most Australian general practice post-graduate training programs has been to develop a high quality clinical workforce [1]. The training programs have occurred within vocational, college, or academic contexts and their curricula have been driven by a concern to meet the workforce needs of communities, individuals, registrars and general practitioners [GPs] across Australia [1,2]. Curricula have contained an unequal amount of education and research: All curricula have concentrated on education delivered during the GP registrar-training period. None would mandate that research was to be a formal part of the curriculum. Furthermore, none would mandate that GP supervisors [or educators] develop their research teaching skills, or act as role models by undertaking research.The relationship between education and research within general practice curricula has been shaped by culture. Medical culture can be defined as "a way of perceiving and understanding the world by those who work in, or are served by, health car