The effects of trainings during the vocational training for general practitioners on the quality of trainee's consultation behaviour with standardized patients

The aim of this study was an assessment of the clinical competence of GP-trainees at the start of their vocational training (VT), the implementation of new trainings in the VT and an analysis of the effects of these trainings on the consultation behaviour of the trainees. To realize this, 40 trainees (at the start of their VT) did six (video-taped) consultations with standardized patients. A sample of 10 VT-trainers received new medical trainings concerning the six cases that were used for the competence measurement and gave these trainings to their own trainees. Twenty of these trainees had participated in the competence measurement (experimental group). Ar the end of their VT (two years later) the 40 trainees did again (video-taped) consultation with the same 6 cases. All 480 consultations were evaluated with checklists for the quality of GP medical care. Results offer a detailed overview of trainee's consultation behaviour at the start of the VT. The implementation of the new stepwise system of VT was successful, but some conditions have to be fulfilled. For three cases the experimental group at the end of the VT made a significantly larger progress on the quality-of-care-check lists than the control-group.