In a questionnaire study on a neonatal unit, there was significant mismatch between trainer, trainee and nursing perceptions of training needs.  Here.

Leading article:  Scott-Jupp, Hall, Vyas and Yap take different perspectives of the new mastercourse for MRCPCH.  Here.

In response to a postal questionnaire, few centres have a systematic approach to assessing competency of paediatric prescribers; a literature review goes on to describe that there are no validated tools, nor has there been any evaluation of the impact of teaching on prescribing.  Here.

I don’t usually precis the book reviews, but this one is worth a mention.  Robert Scott-Jupp does a good job of getting people from lots of areas of paediatrics to review the books - you can contact him via the editorial board if you’re interesting in doing this.  The RCPCH Mastercourse is a landmark; I had a quick look at it at the York conference last year and thought it was… interesting.  My main concern is that it becomes yet another mandatory, but costly, feature of paediatric education.  Fair enough for our well paid UK doctors, much less fair for many people who use MRCPCH as an international qualification as it adds to the already substantial cost of the exam.  Anyway, Robert has got a variety of different viewpoints on this Mastercourse, here.

I don’t usually blog review articles.  However, this one is a thing of beauty - and that’s not a phrase I use lightly.   If there is one paper you read this month, it should be this one… more…