Dr Dorinda Chandrabose wins 2026 RCP Teale essay prize

In her winning entry, Dorinda argues that GIM training must evolve to better equip resident doctors to care for an ageing and increasingly multi-morbid population. While recognising the strengths of the current model, she highlights the need to strike a better balance between generalist and specialist training to ensure high-quality, holistic patient care.

Dorinda outlines how the current structure of GIM training – typically undertaken alongside a specialty and with a relatively short period of dedicated GIM experience – can limit opportunities for resident doctors to fully develop core generalist skills. She argues that while increasing sub-specialisation in medicine is essential, it must not come at the expense of a strong generalist foundation.

‘To meet the needs of an increasingly complex patient population, we must train physicians who can think and act as both generalists and specialists – combining broad clinical insight with deep expertise to deliver truly holistic care,’ she explains.

A central theme of the essay is the importance of clinical reasoning in modern medical practice. Dorinda calls for a more explicit focus on teaching clinical reasoning skills within training programmes, including structured approaches to diagnosis, improved understanding of diagnostic testing, and greater awareness of cognitive biases in decision-making. She suggests that embedding these skills more formally would support resident doctors to manage uncertainty and make better-informed clinical judgements.

The essay also highlights the role of reflective practice, feedback and collaborative learning in strengthening training. Dorinda advocates for increased opportunities for peer-led case discussions and multidisciplinary learning, which can enhance clinical reasoning, support resident doctor wellbeing, and foster stronger collaboration across specialties.

Recognising the growing complexity of patient care, she emphasises the importance of integrating generalist and specialist perspectives. ‘Maintaining a broad understanding of medicine,’ she argues, ‘is essential to avoid fragmented care and ensure that clinicians can identify wider patterns of disease beyond their own specialty.’

Dorinda also points to the increasing importance of multidisciplinary team working, noting that closer collaboration between specialties is key to improving patient outcomes and delivering more coordinated care. She highlights how developments such as peri-operative medicine demonstrate the value of integrated, cross-specialty approaches.

Concluding, she argues that the aim of GIM training should be to develop ‘dual-identity’ physicians – doctors who are both confident generalists and skilled specialists. ‘By strengthening areas such as clinical reasoning, reflection, feedback and collaboration, training programmes can better prepare physicians to deliver truly patient-centred, holistic care in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape,’ Dorinda says.

Read Dorinda’s full essay in the October 2026 issue of our membership magazine, Commentary.

The Teale essay prize is awarded annually by the RCP to recognise outstanding writing by resident doctors in the physician specialties on key issues facing the profession. Entrants must be RCP subscribing members.