{"id":32955,"date":"2014-12-10T12:15:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T11:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=32955"},"modified":"2014-12-10T12:18:11","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T11:18:11","slug":"the-bmj-today-could-you-have-been-trained-in-48-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2014\/12\/10\/the-bmj-today-could-you-have-been-trained-in-48-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"The BMJ Today: Could you have been trained in 48 hours?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest in our series of Head to Head articles<\/a> was posted yesterday, and has already garnered a response<\/a>\u2014let us know if you agree with the arguments.<\/p>\n

Andrew Hartle and Sarah Gibb, both from the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, think that 48 hours a week is enough time to train doctors. The crux of their argument is that it happens in Norway, so why not here.<\/p>\n

The evidence that the anaesthetists have collected about their trainee\u2019s training suggests that, after redesigning the service, there is \u201cno evidence of any reduction in anaesthetic trainees’ caseload or access to training opportunities and shows consistent exam success rates, no increase in referrals to regulatory bodies, and a reduction in sick leave among trainees since the regulations were introduced\u201d<\/p>\n

Arguing no is Andrew Goddard, a registrar from the Royal College of Physicians. He says: \u201cIt may well be that we can train many types of doctor within the current system, but for hospital medicine this is not the case . . . Some 44% of doctors completing core medical training report that they are not sufficiently trained to be a higher specialist trainee. When asked why they haven\u2019t had enough training, most cite excessive service pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think the problem is captured by both sides, that within the current<\/strong> system it\u2019s impossible to train doctors within 48 hours\u2014but that doesn\u2019t meant it is, a priori, an impossibility.<\/p>\n

Have a listen to this podcast interview<\/a> with Craig McIlhenny, director of the Faculty of Surgical Training at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He thinks that the days of training happening by some sort of knowledge osmosis are gone, and that it\u2019s time to professionalise the endeavour\u2014reward good trainers and encourage the less good to improve.<\/p>\n