General practice preceptors and the undergraduate curriculum.

The responses of general practitioner preceptors to a questionnaire on issues that were related to undergraduate medical education in general practice were examined. Principal component analyses were carried out on the data to identify core components of active general practice that are important to undergraduate teaching. Three clear components were identified: a management component, a patient component, and a community component. These three components confirm that there are content areas that are common to the experience of education in general practice.