Specialist, And Specialty Doctors Research Articles

‘I don't belong anywhere’: Identity and professional development in SAS doctors

Specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors constitute a marginalised professional group who can struggle to achieve the professional development they desire. Our primary objective was to understand, from a theoretically informed perspective, the ways in which the professional identity of SAS doctors influences their professional development opportunities, including through appraisal. Ten UK SAS doctors participated in in-depth, narrative interviews. Participants were drawn from six medical specialities, and ranged in experience (2.5–15 years) and country of primary medical qualification. Interview transcripts were analysed via critical discourse analysis using Figured Worlds theory. The position of SAS doctors within the Figured World was at times unstable, ambiguous and context dependent. They were often relative outsiders, not immediately trusted by colleagues. Some found their development needs eclipsed by the priorities of colleagues, typically consultants and postgraduate trainees. Appraisal was often not perceived to have successfully addressed these issues. This study enhances our understanding of the lived experience of SAS doctors, which is often in stark contrast to formal policy on the range of roles that they can fulfil. The struggles and successes of SAS doctors described here suggest that there is scope to improve the professional status and professional development opportunities for SAS doctors, including through appraisal.

A cross-sectional audit of the risk of burnout among senior medical staff in a UK district general hospital

The objective was to assess burnout in senior hospital doctors (consultants and staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors) within a UK-based NHS district general hospital (DGH). A web-based survey was created using the validated abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) with consultants and SAS doctors in a DGH. We measured scores on aMBI subscales: depersonalisation, emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment and efficacy. One-hundred and seventy-eight senior clinicians (60% of consultant and SAS doctors) completed the survey with 85% of these being substantive consultants. Forty-nine per cent of senior clinicians were found to be at high risk of burnout using metrics from the aMBI. Burnout is prevalent among senior clinicians at this DGH.

P063 Staff, Associate Specialist and Specialty (SAS) Doctors’ National Audit on the Management of Gonorrhoea in the UK

Background/introduction The British Society for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) revised United Kingdom national guideline for the management of gonorrhoea in adults, 2011, identified five auditable outcome measures. The UK National Guideline for Gonorrhoea Testing, Clinical Effectiveness Group, BASHH, 2012, suggested a further three. Aim(s)/objectives The aim was to audit national management of gonorrhoea against the standards recommended in these two documents. Only SAS doctors were eligible to participate. Methods SAS doctors, whose details were registered on the SAS database, were invited to contribute. All clinics were asked to designate a Local Co-ordinator who would register that clinic and allocate patients to the other participating doctors. Results for the individual clinics were sent to the Local Co-ordinator for dissemination. All information was submitted via a secure online link. Data from forty patients was requested. Results 3233 cases were submitted from 78 centres by 168 doctors. 68% cases were male and 44% were MSM. 83% received first line treatment. 97% were tested or treated for CT. 41% offered written information on GC. Culture attempted in 86% of those GC NAAT positive. Sensitivity testing performed on 94% culture positive. Supplementary testing performed on 61% throat and 60% rectal NAAT reactive. TOC performed on 61%; 41% of these within 2 weeks. Partner notification was done in 92% cases. Discussion/conclusion 83% patients received first-line treatment. A reason was provided for 11% treated with other regimens. The number offered written information was low at 41%. Results about supplementary testing were inconsistent. The results for the other outcomes were satisfactory.

Health Education England must fund SAS doctors’ development, says BMA

Health Education England must guarantee funding to support the professional development of staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors, the BMA has said. Delegates at the BMA’s annual representative meeting voted unanimously in favour of a motion that called on Health …

BMA should convinceThe BMJnot to advertise non-standard posts, say SAS doctors

The BMA should convince The BMJ not to advertise non-standard grade posts, said delegates at the BMA’s staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) grade doctors’ conference this week. Representatives voted in favour of a motion that “deplored” the creation of non-standard grade posts and “urged” the BMA to “help convince The BMJ not to advertise these …

SAS doctors are those most worried about job security, survey finds

Staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors are more worried about job security than doctors in other branches of practice, a BMA survey has found.1 The BMA received 1217 responses to a survey about doctors’ workload and wellbeing, conducted between 4 and 24 February 2014. The survey covered all branches of practice and received 445 responses …

Revalidation has increased appraisal rates among SAS doctors

Preparation for revalidation has improved rates of appraisal among staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors, the General Medical Council has said. Una Lane, the GMC’s director of registration and revalidation, presented figures on this increase in appraisals at an Academy of Medical Royal Colleges conference for SAS doctors in London on Friday. She said that appraisal rates among SAS doctors had increased since March 2011, when the GMC …

Development funding for SAS doctors in England drops by £1.1m

Professional development funding for staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors in England has fallen by £1.1m (14%) over the past four years (2010-11 to 2013-14), figures from Health Education England show. In 2008 the Department of Health made £12m of recurrent funding available for the professional development of SAS grade doctors and dentists in England. This money supports SAS doctors in training and career development activities, such as leadership training, mentoring, appraisal, and clinical skills acquisition or consolidation. The amount of development funding available to SAS doctors has fallen over the past four years in eight of 11 regions in England.⇓ The biggest drop in funding was in the East Midlands, …

SAS doctors condemn cuts to career development funding

Staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors have called on Health Education England to ensure that recurrent funding is available across England for continuing professional development. Representatives at the BMA’s annual SAS doctors conference heard how development funding for SAS doctors has been cut or is being cut across England. Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Deanery; West Midlands Deanery; and North Western Deanery …

Guidance is launched to improve job planning for SAS doctors

New guidance has been launched for staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors that aims to align the job planning and professional development opportunities that doctors in these grades receive with those of their consultant colleagues. The UK-wide guidance—developed jointly by NHS Employers, the BMA, and the devolved administrations—also aims to help SAS doctors and their managers take a collaborative approach to job planning and to improve multidisciplinary team planning. A job plan should be a prospective agreement that sets out a doctor’s duties, responsibilities, and objectives for the coming year …

SAS doctors report lack of time for professional development

Many staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors do not have time for continuing professional development, and a fifth have been refused study leave, a survey by the BMA has found. Although around half (56%) of the 361 SAS doctors who responded to the online survey had one supporting professional activity (SPA) spot a week in their job plan, in line with the specialty doctor and associate specialist contracts introduced in April 2008, almost …

Associate specialist grade should be reopened, demand SAS doctors

The associate specialist grade, closed to new applicants in 2008, should be reopened under national terms and conditions of services, doctors in the staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) grade have demanded. Delegates at the BMA’s annual SAS doctors conference also agreed that BMA negotiators had been “grossly negligent” in allowing the closure of the associate specialist grade when renegotiating the …

Scotland awards £1.2m development funding to SAS doctors

The Scottish government has allocated £1.2m of funding towards training and career development for staff, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors. …

Continuing professional development for psychiatrists: surveying current practice in the UK

Aims and methodThe Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends that all psychiatrists undertake continuing professional development (CPD) as part of their personal development plan (PDP) and that, for quality assurance, all CPD activity is approved by their peer groups. We conducted a regional survey (Survey I) of consultant psychiatrists attending a regional conference of the College to assess their current CPD practice, and a more detailed national survey (Survey II) into sessional time for CPD and peer group activity of all consultant psychiatrists and staff grade, associate specialist and specialty (SASS) doctors.ResultsThe surveys showed some similarities. Survey I (n = 36) showed that 83% of consultants had a current CPD certificate and that consultants experienced significantly more difficulty in achieving their ‘internal’ compared with ‘external’ CPD requirements (39% v. 20%). Survey II (n = 2632) showed that 98% of our sample thought CPD was important for revalidation. Despite this, over 50% had difficulty accessing CPD time regularly in their timetable. In total, 97.4% of consultants and 85.7% of SASS doctors were in peer groups.Clinical implicationsA revised CPD policy must give credit to peer group meetings and set out more clearly the distinction between the types of CPD activity psychiatrists undertake. We recommend more robust job planning to enable psychiatrists to fulfil their CPD requirements in the face of competing demands on their clinical time and reducing resource.