Developing a taxonomy of UK Medical Practice
Why did we commission this research?
We are keen to build our understanding of the breadth of doctors’ practice. This is important for our regulatory role and the role we play in supporting workforce planning.
To help us to develop our understanding, we asked Newcastle University to conduct research to identify an initial set of features that could describe and distinguish between the practice of different groups of doctors.
What were the key findings?
An expert medical panel identified 10 high-level features that they believed could describe and distinguish the breadth of doctors practice’ from that of other doctors. These were:
- assessment of patients
- undertaking either diagnostic or therapeutic procedures which require specialised training
- prescribing or initiating courses of drugs for specialised use
- direct educational delivery
- active involvement in the conduct of research
- formal leadership or management roles related to clinical work
- senior leadership role
- other management or leadership role or responsibility distinct from clinical work
- a role with an international, national, regional or local organisation
- providing medical opinion for legal or judicial purposes, for example as a member of a tribunal, an expert witness, or in safeguarding or other medico-legal context.
The research then piloted the 10 features with a small sample of doctors. Respondents agreed with the 10 features and made minor suggestions on how to refine them. They also recorded how their own practice aligned with the features.
What did the research involve?
The project consisted of two main phases: a consensus-building process to identify the high-level features that a group of experts believed could constitute the core components of doctors’ practice and a pilot questionnaire to test those features.
In the first phase, a panel of 56 experts generated and reviewed a set of features of practice. In the second, an online questionnaire based on that set of features was completed by a sample of 167 doctors who were GMC Associates. These are doctors who support our work, for example by sitting on panels or attending quality assurance visits.
