Twenty years of vocational training in the west of Scotland
- PMID: 2053933
- PMCID: PMC1668750
- DOI: 10.1136/bmj.302.6767.28
Twenty years of vocational training in the west of Scotland
Abstract
Objective: To assess the career paths of doctors who completed vocational training in the west of Scotland between 1968 and 1987 and their views on the hospital component of their training.
Design: Retrospective analysis of the experience and opinions of vocationally trained doctors obtained from a postal questionnaire.
Setting: West of Scotland.
Subjects: 1255 Doctors identified from Glasgow University records who had been vocationally trained in the west of Scotland between 1968 and 1987.
Main outcome measures: Personal details; employment; jobs held currently; additional professional commitments; importance of hospital posts held in various specialties to respondents currently in general practice; and retrospective choice of hospital posts, based on subsequent experience.
Results: 619 Responses were received, 543 initially and 76 after a letter of reminder, from a possible total of 974 (excluding 153 questionnaires returned by the post office and 128 returned because of misunderstanding between the name and address); the overall response rate was therefore 64%. 607/619 (98%) Respondents were employed at the time of the study, of whom 517/607 (85%) were in general practice. A third (202/609) had been unemployed at some point, significantly more of them women (122/243, 50% v 80/376, 21%; chi 2 = 54.8, p less than 0.001). 510/563 (91%) Respondents held one postgraduate qualification or more, and 284/612 (46%) had additional professional commitments. The hospital posts most commonly held were in obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, paediatrics, and medicine. Medicine, obstetrics, paediatrics, and dermatology were considered to be the most relevant hospital specialties by those who had experience of them and were now in general practice. Although ophthalmology and ear, nose, and throat were not rated highly by these doctors, other respondents wished that they had held posts in these specialties (32 and 40 respectively). During the hospital training 354/475 (75%) respondents thought that they were looked on as a junior hospital doctor and not as a trainee for general practice.
Conclusions: Most of those who had entered vocational training were in employment, and most were in general practice. According to them, the most beneficial hospital posts for vocational training are medicine, obstetrics, paediatrics, and dermatology. Trainees should be encouraged to attend clinics in gynaecology, ear, nose, and throat, and ophthalmology.
Comment in
-
Twenty years of vocational training in Scotland.BMJ. 1991 Feb 23;302(6774):472. doi: 10.1136/bmj.302.6774.472-b. BMJ. 1991. PMID: 2004186 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Similar articles
-
Training for general practice: a national survey.BMJ. 1990 Apr 7;300(6729):911-5. doi: 10.1136/bmj.300.6729.911. BMJ. 1990. PMID: 2337717 Free PMC article.
-
Twenty years of vocational training in the west of Scotland: the practice component.Br J Gen Pract. 1991 Dec;41(353):492-5. Br J Gen Pract. 1991. PMID: 1807324 Free PMC article.
-
The educational component of senior house officer posts: differences in the perceptions of consultants and junior doctors.Postgrad Med J. 1994 Mar;70(821):198-202. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.70.821.198. Postgrad Med J. 1994. PMID: 8183753 Free PMC article.
-
Are vocationally trained general practitioners better GPs? A review of research designs and outcomes.Med Educ. 1998 May;32(3):244-54. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2923.1998.00192.x. Med Educ. 1998. PMID: 9743777 Review.
-
[The Assistant Doctors' Experience and Vocational Training Satisfaction in Ophthalmology in Bavaria: Outcomes of an Online Survey with Evaluation of the Vocational Training in Ophthalmic Surgery].Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2018 Dec;235(12):1398-1406. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-100614. Epub 2018 Apr 11. Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2018. PMID: 29642266 Review. German.
Cited by
-
Career choices of trainees in general practice.BMJ. 1996 Feb 3;312(7026):314. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7026.314b. BMJ. 1996. PMID: 8611809 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
Drug users' views on general practitioners.BMJ. 1995 May 27;310(6991):1407-8. doi: 10.1136/bmj.310.6991.1407c. BMJ. 1995. PMID: 7787565 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
What do Wessex general practitioners think about the structure of hospital vocational training?BMJ. 1994 May 21;308(6940):1337-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.308.6940.1337. BMJ. 1994. PMID: 8019223 Free PMC article.
-
Health education in rheumatology.Ann Rheum Dis. 1991 Jun;50 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):409-55. doi: 10.1136/ard.50.suppl_3.409-a. Ann Rheum Dis. 1991. PMID: 2059089 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
General practice careers: changing experience of men and women vocational trainees between 1974 and 1989.Br J Gen Pract. 1993 Apr;43(369):141-5. Br J Gen Pract. 1993. PMID: 8323799 Free PMC article.
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources