Attitudes to pre-employment competency screening

Abstract

The results suggest that foundation doctors find the PECS process acceptable, and see it as an opportunity to identify educational needs and to be supported in weak areas. There are concerns about the validity of these assessments, and we have suggested recommendations for standardising PECS whilst acknowledging the need for further research.

Preparation for practice

“…Ivory and colleagues from Australia confront the dilemma that population health is often perceived by students as less important than acute medicine, when in fact the growing burden of chronic disease that will dominate their careers can only by tackled at a population level 3 . And Pattison and colleagues from Manchester in the UK measure the acceptability to junior doctors of tests to screen their competence before they start work 4 . Meanwhile, Basu questions the impact of work‐based assessments – commonly conducted by clinical teachers – in helping students to learn 5 …”