“We had the opportunity to present our original work at the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) Research and Publishing Conference this year. Our project was an exploratory study into how ethnicity is recorded at GP surgeries in Oxfordshire, by looking at online patient registration forms, concluding that the way in which we record patient ethnicity in primary care may not be standardised or meaningful for interpretation. This began with Junaid’s GP placement, where an audit into vaccine uptake and ethnicity revealed that there were often inconsistencies in the way ethnicity was recorded, making it difficult to interpret with regard to national data. Discussing this with Dr Sharon Dixon and Clare led to coming up with the idea for the study.
It was a pleasure and privilege to attend the conference at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) headquarters in London, listening to talks on topics ranging from public health and health inequalities to research ethics and medical education. We both felt the energy coming from the conference was a keenness to engage with many of the pertinent issues facing society, highlighting primary care as a frontier where a big impact can be made.
It was honestly a surprise to have won the award for best student presentation – not only because we were not quite aware there was such an award - but also as we had met and spoken to many keen students throughout the day who were presenting posters and talks and very passionate about their topics. We were very pleased with the award and look forward to hopefully writing up our work for publishing in the BJGP!”
What is next for Junaid and Clare?
Junaid is most likely headed towards practising medicine in the hospital setting in his career, but has appreciated gaining an enriched understanding of primary care and the challenges it faces. This is entirely relevant in every sector of healthcare, in understanding how our health system interacts with the population and functions most effectively.
Clare is considering a career in primary care and similarly found the conference a valuable opportunity to explore some of the key issues currently facing primary care providers, as well as a chance to discover more about the exciting potential research and education opportunities that are present within the specialty of general practice.