1286 A national survey quantifying the teaching in paediatrics offered to foundation doctors

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood 2022-08, Vol.107 (Suppl 2), p.A400-A401
• Main Authors: Alexander, Emma, Mansfield, Roshni, Vaidya, Hrisheekesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abstracts; Careers; Children; Emergency medical care; National Surveys; Pediatrics; Physicians; Polls & surveys; Social Networks; Social organization; State Surveys; Statistical analysis; Surveys; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0003-9888; 1468-2044
• DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-rcpch.649

AimsMost trainee doctors will care for children regularly during their careers; some during Paediatric specialist training, others in settings such as Emergency Medicine or General Practice. Consequently, paediatric teaching ought to be part of the broad-based teaching delivered to Foundation doctors to prepare them for later specialisation. This study sought to quantify the teaching in paediatrics that is offered to Foundation Year 1 (FY1) and Foundation Year 2 (FY2) doctors in the UK.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of FY1/FY2 doctors was conducted at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year. The survey was distributed through regional mailing lists, and via social networks. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis of independent samples, for non-normally distributed data. Ethical approval was granted via Imperial College London Education Ethics Review Process (EERP 2021-082).Results205 Foundation doctors completed the survey: 49.8% (n=102) FY1 doctors, and 50.2% (n=103) FY2 doctors, representing 16 of the 18 Foundation deaneries in the UK. 24.4% (n=50) had completed a paediatric post in the past 12 months.The participants reported attending a median of 1 hour (interquartile range (IQR) 0-2) of Core Foundation teaching on paediatric topics over the past 12 months, a median of 0 hours (IQR 0-5) non-Core teaching, and a median of 0 hours (IQR 0-1) of optional learning e.g. conferences. Overall, they attended a median of 2 hours (interquartile range (IQR) 0-10) of paediatric teaching of all types in the past 12 months. 15% reported not receiving teaching in child safeguarding during FY1/FY2 even though this is mandatory for ARCPs. The median number of total hours attended by those who were interested in Paediatrics as a career was statistically significantly higher than for those who were not interested (median 18.25 hours vs 1.75 hours, p