Learning opportunities for Australian prevocational hospital doctors: exposure, perceived quality and desired methods of learning

Abstract

Objective: To survey prevocational doctors working in Australian hospitals on aspects of postgraduate learning. Participants and setting: 470 prevocational doctors in 36 health services in Australia, August 2003 to October 2004. Design: Cross‐sectional cohort survey with a mix of ordinal multicategory questions and free text. Main outcome measures: Perceived preparedness for aspects of clinical practice; perceptions of the quantity and usefulness of current teaching and learning methods and desired future exposure to learning methods. Results: 64% (299/467) of responding doctors felt generally prepared for their job, 91% (425/469) felt prepared for dealing with patients, and 70% (325/467) for dealing with relatives. A minority felt prepared for medicolegal problems (23%, 106/468), clinical emergencies (31%, 146/469), choosing a career (40%, 188/468), or performing procedures (45%, 213/469). Adequate contact with registrars was reported by 90% (418/465) and adequate contact with consultants by 56% (257/466); 20% (94/467) reported exposure to clinical skills training and 11% (38/356) to high‐fidelity simulation. Informal registrar contact was described as useful or very useful by 94% (433/463), and high‐fidelity simulation by 83% (179/216). Most prevocational doctors would prefer more formal instruction from their registrars (84%, 383/456) and consultants (81%, 362/447); 84% (265/316) want increased exposure to high‐fidelity simulation and 81% (283/350) to professional college tutorials. Conclusion: Our findings should assist planning and development of training programs for prevocational doctors in Australian hospitals.

Supervision and feedback for junior medical staff in Australian emergency departments: findings from the emergency medicine capacity assessment study

“…Registrars appear to do the bulk of supervision and training [4,5]. In one study, 90% of prevocational doctors reported adequate informal contact with registrars, but only 56% reported adequate informal contact with consultants [4]. Other studies have yielded similar results [5,6].…”

“…The education and supervision experienced by prevocational doctors and interns in the ED has been investigated in several surveys. Registrars appear to do the bulk of supervision and training [4,5]. In one study, 90% of prevocational doctors reported adequate informal contact with registrars, but only 56% reported adequate informal contact with consultants [4].…”

Review of intern preparedness and education experiences in General Medicine

“…Answers were assessed using a 5‐point scale, with a score of 1 indicating a low rating (‘not well prepared’/‘not very useful’) and a score of 5 indicating a high rating (‘very well prepared’/‘very useful’). The questionnaire was designed using criteria from internal SVH assessment forms and a tool developed for a Learning Needs Analysis Project for PGY 1, 2 and 3 9 . The study questionnaire was reviewed by the SVH Director of Medical Education and by consultant physicians from the General Medical Department.…”

Training our prevocational doctors

“…Gaps in knowledge and skills were often likely after completion of this part of training. A significant number of junior medical officers (JMOs) feel unprepared to deal with, for example, medicolegal issues, emergencies or some procedures, which is unacceptable 2 . Worryingly, they receive varying degrees of feedback and often feel inundated with administrative tasks.…”