Effect of the undergraduate curriculum on the preparedness of pre-registration house officers

Easing the transition from student to doctor: how can medical schools help prepare their graduates for starting work?

BACKGROUND

In 2000/1, a survey found that 42% of newly qualified UK doctors felt their medical training had not prepared them well for starting work.

AIM

To determine factors associated with preparedness.

METHODS

A questionnaire to all 5143 newly qualified doctors in May 2005.

RESULTS

The response rate was 2062/4784 = 43.1%. 15% of respondents felt poorly prepared by medical school for starting work. There were no associations between gender or graduate entry status and preparedness. The personality traits of conscientiousness (r=0.14; p < 0.001) and extraversion (r=0.15; p < 0.001) were associated with high preparedness. Neuroticism was associated with low preparedness (r= -0.16; p < 0.001).Respondents who had done shadowing attachments were more likely to feel prepared (58.6% vs 48.5% felt prepared; 2=4.0; p=0.05), as were graduates of problem based learning courses (61.3% vs 56.1%; 2=5.0; p=0.03). Preparedness correlated with agreement with the statements 'My teaching was relevant to real life as a doctor' (rho=0.36; p < 0.001), and 'As a house officer I found it easy to get help when I needed it' (rho=0.29; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Improvements in the preparedness of UK medical school graduates may be due to increased relevance of undergraduate teaching to life as a junior doctor and increased support in the workplace.

Comparison of aspects of preregistration house officer training from traditional and new medical curricula

As medical graduates from the new (problem-based learning) curriculum at University of Liverpool undertook their first post in the postgraduate clinical setting, this study investigated whether their views of preregistration training in the Mersey Deanery differed from the last cohort of preregistration house officers who had graduated from the traditional lecture-based medical curriculum at University of Liverpool.