How psychiatric trainees keep up to date: survey of psychiatric trainees' use of journals and other information sources

Abstract

Aims and method To gather information about psychiatric trainees' use of different information sources and academic materials, a questionnaire was distributed at the London Deanery Annual Psychiatry Trainee Conference and the training programmes of two teaching trusts.Results Participants returned 202 out of a total of 300 completed questionnaires (67%). Websites were the most commonly accessed information source ahead of textbooks, abstracts and journals. Year of training correlated positively with journal use and negatively with textbook use. Year of training also correlated positively with frequency of reading three journals published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and with specific reasons for consulting journals, namely to improve clinical practice and inform trainees' own research.Clinical implications Respondents reported consulting websites more frequently than more traditional information sources but journals are still a widely used source of information for trainee clinicians. It is important that trainees continue to be equipped with skills to identify and access high-quality information at the point of clinical uncertainty.

Psychiatrists’ reflections on a medication-free program for patients with psychosis

“…The practice of medicine is distinguished by the need for judgement in the face of uncertainty. A doctor’s up-to-date knowledge and skill provide the explicit scientific and often tacit experiential basis for such judgements (Curley et al, 1990; Walker-Tilley et al, 2016; Working Party of the Royal College of Physicians, 2005). This view has been supported by our study when psychiatrists stated that they had based their medical decision on science and evidence-based guidelines despite the pressure they are exposed to from different sources like the government, unsatisfied service users and their relatives.…”

‘Background’ and ‘foreground’ knowledge: targeting learning materials to trainees' needs

“…Although Walker-Tilley et al state that examining the reasons why psychiatry trainees accessed information sources was beyond the scope of their study, 2 they suggest plausible reasons why advanced trainees consulted journals more frequently, and textbooks less frequently, than their more junior counterparts. In addition to the reasons the authors put forward, I would also suggest that the differing information-accessing habits of senior and junior trainees can be explained by the distinction made in the evidence-based medicine literature between ‘background’ and ‘foreground’ knowledge.…”

“…The dissemination of written educational materials may form part of an effective approach to knowledge translation. 1 It is therefore important to explore psychiatry trainees' use of information sources, 2 as by increasing our understanding of their reading habits, we may better target information to trainees.…”

“…It is plausible that advanced trainees are using textbooks less than more junior trainees 2 because they are posing more ‘foreground’ questions (owing to the more advanced stage of their training). It is also likely that advanced trainees are posing more of these questions because they work with greater autonomy in their clinical practice than their more junior counterparts.…”

“…4 This finding is not, however, an end in itself because search engines signpost their users to many information sources but it is not clear which sources (or what kinds of websites) the clinicians then choose to consult. Also, while it is argued 2 that Google may be a valuable tool to physicians in clarifying diagnosis, much of the information which Google finds is unfiltered, meaning that the burden of critical appraisal falls entirely on the clinician. 3 Likewise, Wikipedia users must counterbalance the advantage of being able to find information quickly and easily with the disadvantage of this information being of variable quality.…”