From undergraduate medical education to pre-registration house officer year: how prepared are students?

Abstract

Studies in the United Kingdom show that the first year of being a new doctor is a difficult transition from being an undergraduate medical. These doctors feel ill-prepared by their undergraduate medical student education and ill-equipped for their new role. This is a questionnaire study looking at 193 pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) and 212 consultant educational supervisors within the West Midlands Deanery in England, UK. The study asked how well prepared these new doctors were in seventeen basic subject areas (using a General Medical Council based template), and also, using the same template, how well prepared their consultant educational supervisors felt they were. Statistical testing included ranking of subject areas for each group, reliability testing and comparisons of views of house officers and consultants. Both groups ranked communication skills areas highest (best prepared) and ranked basic doctoring skills (such as prescribing, treatment, decision making and emergencies) lowest. House officers rated themselves significantly higher than did their consultant supervisors in thirteen out of the seventeen areas tested. In discussion, we ask if we have gone too far in teaching effective communication at the expense of basic doctoring skills. We also consider whether indeed young doctors have an inflated opinion of their own competencies, or are the older generation seeing the world through rose tinted spectacles?

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Wall

DAVID WALL is deputy regional postgraduate dean for the West Midlands Deanery, UK, and visiting professor of medical education at Staffordshire University. His main interests include curriculum studies, teaching the teachers’ initiatives and learning and teaching about research methods in education.

Andrea Bolshaw

ANDREA BOLSHAW is Administrative Head of Education at The University of Birmingham Medical School. She has previous experience in both medical education and quality assurance at two other UK Higher Education Institutions (including one other Medical School). Her main medical education interests include strategic educational management and systems, QA and SIFT accountability.

Justine Carolan

JUSTINE CAROLAN is the Support Officer for both the Medical School Education Unit and the Quality Assurance Office at the University of Birmingham. She is the central point of contact and is responsible for providing administrative and organisational support for all members of the Medical School Education Unit.