Abstract
Aims and methodTo select staff for a personality disorder service by exposing applicants to anticipated challenges. Applicants took part in a role play, an unstructured group with fellow applicants and numbers of the interviewing panel, and a panel interview. A service user representative was involved from the initial planning stage.ResultsMultiple assessment methods enabled fine discrimination between applicants. Appointed staff said they felt the interviews were a valid test of required skills and have been well regarded by patients in the programme.Clinical implicationsSelecting staff for a personality disorder service benefits from using multiple interview methods. The service user representative and role-play actor can contribute crucially by representing the patient's perspective. Key domains to assess include the applicant's psychological qualities, psychiatric skills and ability to work in a team.
Highlights
We reviewed the literature on qualities needed for working with patients with a personality disorder and how these qualities may be assessed in recruitment
The role play allowed an assessment of whether the applicant could demonstrate abilities described in the curriculum vitae (CV)
It was especially useful in assessing how applicants managed the negative transference, in response to the defences used by patients with borderline personality disorder, projective identification; in this role play, the projection of the patient’s feelings of hopelessness and helplessness to the clinician
Summary
The service user representative added a key perspective, for example by stating during the panel discussion after each role play whether or not they would trust this applicant to be their therapist. During the panel interview the question ‘How do you feel having a service user representative on the panel?’ discriminated between applicants whose response seemed organised by concerns regarding political correctness and those being able to reflect on the complexity of the process. When asked to reflect on the role play during the panel discussion, it became clearer that the applicant had successfully covered omissions in her role play She tried to sit on the fence when discussing the vignette regarding the dispute between the psychiatrist and care coordinator and when asked to commit to a decision gave way before the medical hierarchy. The team selected to date have managed the clinical demands of the job well; they have good job satisfaction, are regarded well by a difficult group of patients, and have a very low sickness rate
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