The road to consultancy: an epidemiological study
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The road to consultancy: an epidemiological study Nadia Van Den Berg 1,2 & Matthew G. Davey 2 Aisling Hogan 2 & Myles Joyce 2
&
Martin S. Davey 2 & Mel Corbett 2 & Laura Fahy 2 &
Received: 1 September 2020 / Accepted: 23 September 2020 # Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland 2020
Abstract Background Modern medical and surgical training pathways have developed globally in response to changing expectations and requirements for trainees. Aims To determine the demographic, educational, and training characteristics of consultants in a model 4 teaching hospital, and to evaluate the requirements met by consultant physicians and surgeons prior to their appointment to consultancy. Method A single-centre study conducted by prospectively distributing written questionnaires. Data was collected and analysed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Results This questionnaire was offered to 166 consultants, 110 of whom responded (66.0%). The vast majority were Irish (91.8%) and 70.9% male. The mean age to appointment was 35.7 ± 2.6 years. Radiology was the specialty with the youngest mean age at appointment: 34.4 ± 2.6 years, while surgery had the oldest: 36.7 ± 2.7 (P = 0.035). Overall, 80.9% trained via Higher Specialist Training (HST) schemes (89/110) and 68.2% completed a higher degree (75/110). Geriatric medicine and dermatology had the highest rate of completed higher degrees (100.0%, 3/3 and 3/3 respectively), followed by surgeons (92.3%; 24/26) and cardiologists (71.4%; 5/7). The overall duration of HST varied greatly; the mean surgical, medical and anaesthesiology durations were 6.7 ± 1.8 years, 6.6 ± 1.7 years, and 5.3 ± 2.0 years. A total of 75.4% of consultants completed fellowship (83/110). Conclusion This study highlights variations in postgraduate Irish medical training pathways and discrepancies in training requirements expected in each specialty. The establishment of a modern guideline for young trainees working towards consultancy may be imperative in ensuring trainees have insight into training requirements expected in their specialty. Keywords Consultancy . Medical training . Questionnaire . Training requirements
Introduction Although medical teaching has existed in some capacity in Ireland for over 2000 years [1], formal training only began in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02391-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Matthew G. Davey [email protected] 1
School of Medicine, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland
2
Department of Surgery, Galway University Hospital, Galway H91YR71, Republic of Ireland
Ireland were established after receiving full charter from King George III enabling formal training of medical and surgical consultants [2, 3]. Such training commenced using an initial Halstedian model, whereby trainees undertook an apprenticeshi
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