Volume 186 - Issue 8
Medical education registrars: new thoughts on old problems
Author: Andrew M Foote
Med J Aust 2007; 186 (8): 431-432. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb00987.x
Published online: 16 April 2007
Published online: 16 April 2007
To the Editor: Medical education faces a number of significant challenges in the coming years. The most concerning problem is that there are insufficient medical educators. To compound this problem further, clinicians with an interest in teaching lack academic recognition, funding, time for medical education, and institutional support.1
While this is already creating problems for training of medical students and junior doctors, the situation will only become worse as the number of graduates increases to meet workforce shortages. A greater number of medical students and graduates will put further pressure on an already over-stretched health system to deliver adequate medical education. Therefore, we need to consider new ways of creating effective clinical teachers and learning materials that are educationally sound and supported by research.
One way to address some of these deficits is to create specific training positions for doctors interested in pursuing a career in medical education, perhaps called “medical education registrars”. These positions could be jointly funded by hospital networks, universities and other interested groups, such as the postgraduate medical councils, and could be aimed at doctors with a strong interest in medical education, especially those at an early stage in their career, such as postgraduate year (PGY) 3 and PGY4. This joint funding would support hospitals and universities working collaboratively, and taking responsibility for making medical education “a priority, rather than an add-on”.2 The hospital appointment would maintain the registrars’ clinical knowledge, and the university appointment would allow opportunities for further study in medical education theory and research methods. Both environments would allow for academic mentoring.
These registrars would then be ideally placed to assist in the development, implementation and evaluation of education materials using the newly released Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors as a guide. While agreeing that the Framework provides a “unique opportunity to improve the quality of medical training in Australia”, Gleason et al expressed concerns about how the Framework would be implemented.3 Medical education registrars could play a pivotal role in this process, and would be strong advocates for junior doctors.
Medical education registrar positions are a simple, cost-effective way to encourage clinicians, especially those early in their careers, to pursue medical education as a serious and satisfying career path. Urgent action is required now to avert certain disaster in a few years, when hospitals are full of medical students and junior doctors, and there is no one to supervise and train them.
References
- Huwendiek S, Mennin S, Nikendei C. Medical education after the Flexner Report [letter]. N Engl J Med 2007; 356: 90.
- Lake FR, Landau L. Training our prevocational doctors [editorial]. Med J Aust 2007; 186: 112-113. 0_i1091789
- Gleason AJ, Daly JO, Blackham RE. Prevocational medical training and the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors: a junior doctor perspective. Med J Aust 2007; 186: 114-116. 0_i1091794