Analysis of the current status, challenges, and strategies of continuing professional development for graduates of rural bonded general practitioner education program in Guizhou province^☆

Abstract

Background The competency of graduates of rural bonded general practice education program has attracted widespread attention. Strengthening continuing professional development is an important measure to enhance the competency of general practitioners (GPs) who graduated from the bonded medical program.
Objective To understand the current status, challenges, and needs of continuing professional development for doctors who graduated from the bonded medical program in Guizhou Province, and to inform the improvement of the continuing professional development.
Methods Between November and December 2021, a combination of purposive sampling and snowball sampling was used to select 42 GPs who graduated from the bonded medical program from 39 township health centers across nine cities (prefectures) in Guizhou Province as research subjects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the results were analyzed using a procedural grounded theory method.
Results Through three-level coding, a total of 145 concepts, 23 categories, and 5 main categories were ultimately organized, leading to one storyline: the continuing professional development of the GPs is influenced by multiple factors. The actual conditions pose the main obstacles, while capability and quality act as external drivers, policies and systems provide crucial safeguards, and inherent needs serve as internal motivators. Improving training process management is identified as the key element.
Conclusion The willingness of the rural GPs in Guizhou Province to undergo training needs to be strengthened. The quality of continuing professional development, the relevance of training content to their needs, and the level of attention from primary care facilities require improvement. There should be enhanced support for continuing professional development and the development of an information platform. Developing suitable education content and training formats for GPs who graduated from bonded medical program is essential to enhance the quality and effectiveness of continuing professional development.

Keywords

General practitioners / Graduates of rural bonded general practice education program / Education, medical / Health policy / Health workforce / Primary health care / Grounded theory

Declarations

Not applicable.

Authors' contributions

Conceptualization, P.H., C.L. and X.X.; Methodology, C.L. and X.X.; Data curation, P.H., W.Y. and C.C.; Formal analysis, Z.N.; Funding acquisition, not applicable; Project administration, not applicable; Resources, not applicable; Supervision, not applicable; Validation, Y.C. and Z.J.; Writing—original draft, P.H.; Writing—review and editing, Y.C. and Z.J. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

This research was supported by grants from National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China

Authors' other information

Not applicable.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

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