Pre-registration house officers' views on studying under a reformed medical curriculum in the UK.

Full Abstract

In 1996 the University of Liverpool introduced a new curriculum based on the recommendations published in Tomorrow's Doctors. This work examines how graduates of that course view their undergraduate curriculum and whether they consider it prepared them well for the pre-registration year. Five focus groups were arranged with a selection of graduates from the first cohort to graduate from the reformed curriculum in order to ascertain their views on the course and how it had prepared them to work as pre-registration house officers (PRHOs). The focus groups were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed. The PRHOs felt they had been well prepared for the PRHO year, citing the clinical experience of the final year, communication skills classes and the Clinical Skills Resource Centre as having been particularly beneficial. There were concerns about their basic science knowledge base although this had not affected their ability to work as PRHOs. They had criticisms of the way part of their course had been structured but overall they were happy with the content of the course. A reformed medical curriculum in the UK can prepare graduates well to work as junior doctors and can take away some of the anxiety associated with graduation; therefore, to that extent curriculum reform has worked. However, anxiety about undertaking the role of junior doctor seems to have been replaced by anxiety about knowledge base, despite having adequate knowledge to work as PRHOs. Students undertaking a reformed curriculum are wary about being the first people to use their training in the workplace. This factor may need to be considered when further reforms are introduced.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Watmough, Simon (S); Garden, Anne (A); Taylor, David (D);

Affiliation: School of Medical Education, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. efcsw(-atsign-)liv.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Multicenter Study

Journal: Medical education (Med Educ), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 40 (issue 9) : pp 893-9

Dates: Created 2006/08/23; Completed 2006/10/30;

PMID: 16925640, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attitude of Health Personnel
Curriculum
Education, Medical, Undergraduate - standards
Female
Focus Groups

Great Britain
Humans
Male
Medical Staff, Hospital - psychology
Problem-Based Learning

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.