AMEE Berlin 2002 Programme

2E2 A comparison of Pre-registration
House Officers’ (PRHOs) and
Senior House Officers’ (SHOs)
experience in general practice
Jan Illing*, Tim van Zwanenberg, Bill Cunningham,
George Taylor, Richard Prescott and Cath O’Halloran
University of Newcastle, Postgraduate Institute for Medicine &
Dentistry, 10-12 Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2
4AB, UK
The aim was to compare the experiences of SHOs and
PRHOs spending four months training in general
practice. While government funding has been provided
for PRHOs, similar schemes for SHOs remain rare and
experimental. A case study approach was used
employing various sources of data. The study involved
nine SHOs, twelve PRHOs, nine GP trainers and sixteen
hospital consultants. Data were collected from PRHOs,
SHOs, GP trainers and hospital consultants. Interview
data were tape-recorded and analysed using thematic
analysis and grounded theory to identify important
themes and patterns in the data. SHOs and PRHOs were
unanimous about the value of the experience in general
practice. They reported learning skills not covered in
hospital posts. GP trainers and hospital consultants
valued the rotations for all doctors irrespective of final
career destination. SHOs were considered better
equipped for general practice and required less
supervision. However, PRHOs felt able to cope with
the demands of general practice.
2E3 Pre-registration experience in
general practice: results of a
national evaluation
Janet Grant*, Lesley Southgate, Rodney Gale, George
Freeman, Alison Hill, Neil Johnson, Frank Smith, Mairead
Beirne and Heather Owen
Open University Centre for Education in Medicine, The Open
University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
A national pilot project to give pre-registration house
officers experience in primary care [with 4 months in
each of medicine, surgery and primary care] was
conducted from August 1998 – August 1999. A national
evaluation was commissioned involving all 96 PRHOs
and their supervisors, and a reference group from the
traditional scheme [6 months medicine, 6 months
surgery]. Tailored survey questionnaires were
completed by trainees and supervisors at the end of
each 4- or 6-month post. The areas evaluated included
costs, governance, content and process of learning,
outcomes of learning, and assessment, quality
assurance and monitoring.
Main findings were:
• the three posts make a balanced, coherent package.
• the scheme produced no detriment for the PRHOs.
• there were no detrimental effects on hospital
supervisors’ time commitment
• the time impact on the general practices was
significant
• the new scheme has some effect on PRHOs’ career
plans.
Monday 3 September
- 4.9 -
2E4 Family Medicine Month: a human
life cycle approach for first year
residents
Linda Z Nieman, Rebecca Gladu, Thelma Jean Goodrich,
Janet Groff and Mary M Velasquez
UT Houston Health Science Center, Family Practice and
Community Medicine, 6431 Fannin, Suite JJL324, Houston, TX
77030, USA
We designed “Family Medicine Month,” a rotation for
first year residents, to provide a contextual, lifecycle
approach to medical care and related family practice
skills. Individual daily sessions related to a particular
stage of the lifecycle (e.g., adolescence) and related
behavioural and technical skills (e.g., interviewing the
adolescent patient and casting skills for common sport
injuries). We intended that our residents would integrate
this inclusive approach into their professional
behaviour. Twenty residents who participated in the
rotation in 1999 and 2000 were satisfied with the
rotation’s usefulness. They also reported greater selfefficacy
in performing family practice skills after the
rotation (8.1 ± 0.7) as compared to before the rotation
(6.2 ± 1.4) (p