International Medical Graduates represent a significant part of the UK medical workforce. Often highly qualified in their home countries, they arrive in the NHS without the experience of either system or culture. Their chance of success is determined by the orientation program and governance structures are in place to support them. In this report, we describe two structures we designed independently to support IMGs from recruitment through to their transition into working in the NHS. We describe the Epsom St Helier Academy and King’s College Orientation Programs in the pre-COVID and COVID19 era. Our programs offer a blueprint for other healthcare organisations looking to improve the integration and experience of IMGs in the NHS.
AimTo establish the prevalence of cardiac conditions in British Army recruits in whom a murmur is detected.MethodsRecruits were screened with a standardised questionnaire and physical examination by military occupational physicians. Those with cardiac symptoms, a history suspicious for cardiac disease, or with hypertension, were referred to their civilian Primary Care Doctor for further investigation. Those recruits with an isolated murmur on auscultation underwent an ECG, echocardiogram and cardiology review in a military clinic and are the subject of this study.ResultsOver a seven year period, 11420 consecutively referred recruits aged 15–32 years (89% male) were evaluated. Significant valve disease was identified in 146 (1.28%) recruits. Bicuspid aortic valve occurred in 124 (1.09%) recruits of which 67.7% demonstrated some form of valvular dysfunction, aortopathy, coarctation of the aorta or left ventricular dysfunction.Cardiac disease was strongly suspected or diagnosed in a total of 921 recruits (positive predictive value (PPV) 8.06%). Of these recruits, 298 (32.4%) had cardiac conditions associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) including 98 (10.6%) with probable cardiomyopathy; 22 (2.4%) with accessory pathways; and 30 (3.3%) with possible channelopathies (see Table 1). Males accounted for 91.9% of those with cardiac abnormalities but no significant male disease preponderance was observed (p = 0.117). The remainder of the recruits had a range of ECG and echocardiographic abnormalities not typically associated with SCD.Abstract 80 Table 1Frequency of cardiac abnormalities in the potential recruitsConditionFemales with conditionMales with conditionTotal with condition % total females% total males% of total screenedCardiomyopathies5 (5.1%)93 (94.9%)980.39%0.91%0.86%Accessory pathways3 (13.6%)19 (86.4%)220.24%0.19%0.19%Long QT Syndrome4 (15.4%22 (84.6%)260.32%0.22%0.23%Brugada Syndrome1 (25%)3 (75%)40.08%0.03%0.04%Mitral valve prolapse5 (22.7%)17 (77.3%)220.40%0.17%0.18%Bicuspid aortic valve8 (6.5%)116 (93.5%)1240.64%1.14%1.09%Anomalous origin coronary artery0 (0%)3 (100%)30%0.03%0.03%Other coronary artery abnormalities0 (0%)5 (100%)50%0.05%0.05%Individuals with one or more conditions associated with SCD24 (8.1%)274 (91.9%)2981.91%2.70%2.61%DiscussionThese results show that an isolated murmur, detected by military occupational physicians as part of a cardiac screening program, has a low PPV for the detection of significant valve disease in asymptomatic individuals. The screening program incidentally detected a larger cohort of recruits with potentially serious underlying cardiac abnormalities, resulting in deferral of military service. Most of these conditions are not classically associated with a cardiac murmur and were diagnosed from ECG or echocardiography. Without these investigations, it is unlikely they would have been detected. Therefore, the addition of routine ECG, and possibly echocardiography to the British Army cardiac screening protocol should be considered. This approach wou...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.