Future child and adolescent psychiatrists: a further survey of senior registrar training

Higher trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry and their consultant trainers reported high levels of com pliance with existing JCHPT guidelines on the structure of direct supervision. There was a consensus about the ideal content of supervision sessions but disparity about whether this is achieved in practice and over issues of responsibility for raising certain topic areas. These find ings are discussed and some questions to be addressed by trainee and trainer at the outset of the supervision process are suggested.The direct supervision of higher trainees by their consultant trainers, involving face to face dis cussion, is often seen as a cornerstone of pro fessional development in child and adolescent psychiatry and is undoubtedly a strong formative influence on attitudes concerning the specialty and its practice. Many practitioners will have experienced in their own training great variation in the style and content of supervision and reflected on the impact of this. While some ex periences of supervision may be inspiring, others may serve only to demoralise. The extent to which it is possible and desirable to set stan dards, monitor guidelines and provide training for the supervision process is uncertain.In the United Kingdom the Joint Committee on Higher Psychiatric Training IJCHFT1, published a handbook [19901 which describes require ments and standards about specialty training. A system of regular inspection of training schemes identifies the extent to which these are met. Bools Si Cottrell (1990) presented results of a survey of higher trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry which suggested that changes in training and in trainees' attitudes when com pared to an earlier survey in 1979 [Garralda et al, 1983] had broadly followed JCHPT guidelines. The committee can therefore be seen to function as an important link in an interactive process of training and educational development.The JCHPT handbook gives firm guidelines about the frequency and regularity of direct con sultant supervision. Even so Bools & Cottrell (1990) were concerned that 27% of respondents were receiving less than one hour of direct con sultant supervision per week and that nearly 10% reported receiving no individual supervision at all. The guidelines recognise that the practice of supervision varies widely and leave room for flexibility to meet the individual needs of trainees at different stages of training. While this ap proach permits adaptation and creativity within the supervision process, it also allows for misunderstandings arising from disparities of perceived requirement, expectation and beliefs about the nature of the task. The content of sessions, permission and responsibility to raise certain issues, and the nature of the super visory relationship may form the subject of the difficulties.We present the results of a survey of the perceptions of consultant trainers and higher trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry in England and Wales concerning their practical experience of the direct supervision process in wh...

Section: Commentsupporting

confidence: 81%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct consultant supervision of higher trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry

Kingsbury

Allsopp²

1994

“…Surveys of trainees' attitudes to training matters employing question naires have already provided useful information for planning purposes (Garralda et al, 1980 andBools & Cottrell, 1990). This type of approach has the benefit of being easy to organise and is well supported judging by the response to this study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 60%

‘Teaching the teachers' — a survey of trainees’ teaching experience

Bramble

1991

“…In 1979, a postal questionnaire was sent to all 107 senior registrars in training (Garralda et al, 1983). In 1988, following a revision of training guidelines a further questionnaire survey was conducted (Bools & Cottrell, 1990). Given the major changes in higher training since this last survey, it seemed timely to conduct another survey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of training experiences and attitudes of higher specialist trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry

Smart

Cottrell

2000

Self Cite

Aims and MethodChanges in higher specialist training in the UK have led to a revision of training guidelines in child and adolescent psychiatry. This survey studies trainees' experiences and attitudes in the light of these changes. A questionnaire covering training attitudes and experiences was distributed to all higher specialist trainees in child and adolescent psychiatry via their programme directors.ResultsEighty-eight per cent of trainees responded. Although most training experiences are well provided, there are gaps in provision in specific areas, including research and teaching. Dissemination of information about aspects of training requires improvement and clearer feedback on training could be given.Clinical ImplicationsThe implications for training in child and adolescent psychiatry and higher specialist training in general are discussed.