Implications of aligning full registration of doctors with medical school graduation: a qualitative study of stakeholder perspectives

Effect of national curriculum reform on medical students' preparedness for practice: a prospective cohort study from undergraduate to postgraduate periods

BACKGROUND

In recent years, a national curriculum reform was implemented in undergraduate medical education in Taiwan to reduce clinical rotation training from 3 years to 2 years. The last generation of the old curriculum and the first generation of the new curriculum both graduated in 2019. This study aimed to compare the learning outcomes of the medical students in these two curriculum groups in terms of preparedness for practice during the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study.

METHODS

This was a 3-year prospective, longitudinal, comparative cohort study between 2017 and 2020. Medical students from both the 7-year and 6-year curriculum groups received biannual questionnaire surveys starting 18 months before graduation and running until 11 months after graduation. The measurement tools were the Preparedness for Hospital Practice Questionnaire (PHPQ) and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Personal demographic information was also collected. Linear mixed models were used to determine the effect of curriculum change on learners' preparedness and burnout levels.

RESULTS

A total of 130 medical students from the two cohorts provided 563 measurements during the study period. Compared to their counterparts following the old curriculum, the participants following the new curriculum showed a lower level of preparedness when first entering clinical rotation (p = 0.027) and just after graduating (p = 0.049), especially in the domains of clinical confidence (p = 0.021) and patient management p = 0.015). The multivariate linear mixed model revealed gradual increases in preparedness and burnout in serial measurements in both curriculum groups. Students following the new curriculum, which involved a shortened clinical rotation, showed a slightly lower overall preparedness (p = 0.035) and the same level of burnout (p = 0.692) after adjustment. The factor of year of change did not show a significant effect on either preparedness (p = 0.258) or burnout (p = 0.457).

CONCLUSION

Shortened clinical rotation training for medical undergraduates is associated with a decrease in preparedness for practice during the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study. Clinical confidence and patient management are the main domains affected.

Factors affecting the UK junior doctor workforce retention crisis: an integrative review

OBJECTIVES

To determine the factors contributing to the junior doctor workforce retention crisis in the UK using evidence collected directly from junior doctors, and to develop recommendations for changes to address the issue.

DESIGN

Integrative review.

DATA SOURCES

Searches were conducted on Ovid Medline and HMIC to locate evidence published between January 2016 and April 2021. This was supplemented by publications from relevant national organisations.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

English-language papers relating to UK junior doctor retention, well-being or satisfaction which contained data collected directly from junior doctors were included. Papers focusing solely on the pandemic, factors specific to one medical specialty, evaluation of interventions, or numerical data with no evidence relating to causation were excluded. Review papers were excluded.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Data were extracted and coded on NVivo by FKL, then thematic analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

47 papers were included, consisting of academic (qualitative, quantitative, mixed and commentary) and grey literature. Key themes identified were working conditions, support and relationships, and learning and development, with an overarching theme of lack of flexibility. The outcomes of these factors are doctors not feeling valued, lacking autonomy, having a poor work-life balance, and providing compromised patient care. This results in need for a break from medical training.

CONCLUSION

This review builds on findings of related literature regarding working environments, isolation, stigma, and desire for autonomy, and highlights additional issues around learning and training, flexibility, feeling valued, and patient care. It goes on to present recommendations for tackling poor retention of UK junior doctors, highlighting that the complex problem requires evidence-based solutions and a bottom-up approach in which junior doctors are regarded as core stakeholders during the planning of interventions.

New graduate doctors' preparedness for practice: a multistakeholder, multicentre narrative study

OBJECTIVE

While previous studies have begun to explore newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness for practice, findings are largely based on simplistic survey data or perceptions of newly graduated junior doctors and their clinical supervisors alone. This study explores, in a deeper manner, multiple stakeholders' conceptualisations of what it means to be prepared for practice and their perceptions about newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness (or unpreparedness) using innovative qualitative methods.

DESIGN

A multistakeholder, multicentre qualitative study including narrative interviews and longitudinal audio diaries.

SETTING

Four UK settings: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

PARTICIPANTS

Eight stakeholder groups comprising n=185 participants engaged in 101 narrative interviews (27 group and 84 individual). Twenty-six junior doctors in their first year postgraduation also provided audio diaries over a 3-month period.

RESULTS

We identified 2186 narratives across all participants (506 classified as 'prepared', 663 as 'unprepared', 951 as 'general'). Seven themes were identified; this paper focuses on two themes pertinent to our research questions: (1) explicit conceptualisations of preparedness for practice; and (2) newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness for the General Medical Council's (GMC) outcomes for graduates. Stakeholders' conceptualisations of preparedness for practice included short-term (hitting the ground running) and long-term preparedness, alongside being prepared for practical and emotional aspects. Stakeholders' perceptions of medical graduates' preparedness for practice varied across different GMC outcomes for graduates (eg, Doctor as Scholar and Scientist, as Practitioner, as Professional) and across stakeholders (eg, newly graduated doctors sometimes perceived themselves as prepared but others did not).

CONCLUSION

Our narrative findings highlight the complexities and nuances surrounding new medical graduates' preparedness for practice. We encourage stakeholders to develop a shared understanding (and realistic expectations) of new medical graduates' preparedness. We invite medical school leaders to increase the proportion of time that medical students spend participating meaningfully in multiprofessional teams during workplace learning.