The Effects of Post-graduate Psychiatry Training On Junior Doctors' Attitudes Towards and Confidence in Managing Patients with Psychiatric Presentations

Abstract

Introduction The Foundation-Year 2 Psychiatry Teaching Programme (FY2PTP), was introduced by the East Midlands Foundation School to help junior doctors attain the United Kingdom Foundation Training Program (UKFTP) curriculum competencies in psychiatry1 (which are compulsory before entering specialist training). It is the only scheme of its kind and if successful will be implemented nationwide. FY2PTP consisted of half a day of face-to-face teaching. Objectives To assess the impact of the FY2PTP. Aims 1. To assess the change in doctors' confidence in each area of the psychiatry curriculum following participation. 2. To establish how FY2PTP participation changed doctors' attitudes towards patients with psychiatric symptoms. Methods All participants (258) completed identical pre- and post-teaching questionnaires. Four questions related to how confident doctors felt about syllabus objectives using a five point Likert scale. Part two asked them to state the word that described how they felt when dealing with psychiatric patients. Results The pre- and post-teaching scores were compared using the Mann-Whitney test which generated a p-value of < 0.0001 (one and two tailed) for each question. Download : Download full-size image The words from part two of the pre- and post-questionnaires were compared (p-value < 0.0001) following categorisation according to their emotional valence. Download : Download full-size image Download : Download full-size image Conclusion Doctors who participated in FY2PTP felt more confident and positive when encountering psychiatric patients. FY2PTP should be rolled out to include all UK pre-specialisation doctors. 1. http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/home/curriculum-and-assessment/curriculum2012