Fourth-year medical students' experiences of diagnostic consultations in a simulated primary care setting.

Objectives: The aim was to explore the experiences of fourth-year medical students of diagnostic consultations in a simulated primary care setting, in order to gain an insight into the suitability of such simulated consultations for assessing the diagnostic reasoning skills of medical students.

Methods: This single-centre study employed a qualitative, cross-sectional design. Twelve fourth-year medical students volunteered to be filmed across 21 simulated, primary care consultations.

UK physician associate primary care placements: staff and student experiences and perceptions.

Objectives: To provide an insight into the experiences and perceptions of physician associate students and primary care staff involved in primary care educational placements in the United Kingdom.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted. Data were collected from focus groups and semi-structured interviews with eight first year physician associate students and six primary care staff in two general practice surgeries in East Sussex, United Kingdom.

Consensus statement on an updated core communication curriculum for UK undergraduate medical education.

Objectives: Clinical communication is a core component of undergraduate medical training. A consensus statement on the essential elements of the communication curriculum was co-produced in 2008 by the communication leads of UK medical schools. This paper discusses the relational, contextual and technological changes which have affected clinical communication since then and presents an updated curriculum for communication in undergraduate medicine.

The development of reasoning skills and expertise in primary care.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN IN THIS AREA • The acquisition of clinical reasoning skills from novice to advanced student has been described and compared with experienced clinicians Research from the field of cognitive psychology suggests that development of such skills depends upon organizing packages of information into coherent structures which are quickly accessible from memory. These are called 'instance scripts?. Various strategies are employed in reasoning, starting with step-by-step analysis by novices, moving towards categorisation processes in-advanced practitioners (e.