Higher specialist trainees (HSTs) in psychiatry in Ireland were recruited to complete a 21-item online questionnaire anonymously. Questions were designed to establish the research experience of HSTs in various years of training, identify perceived barriers to participation and generate potential strategies to overcome these barriers.

Of 165 HSTs surveyed, 50 (30%) responded. Most respondents (58%) were in the second or third year of HST. Most (72%) were training in general adult psychiatry. Themes that emerged from analysis of the qualitative data were ‘collaborative research culture’, ‘guidance’, ‘choice’ and ‘access to resources’. Participants felt they needed more structured guidance and regular supervision, and expressed a desire for more networking and collaboration.

The need for a supportive, collaborative research culture within psychiatry was predominant among responses. Structured research programmes and access to resources may facilitate a more positive research culture and should be considered as part of the training curriculum.

This study explores the transformative effects of the Community Plunge, an educational program at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSOM), on healthcare delivery, community engagement, and trainee perspectives. It addresses the broader context of health outcomes, where clinical care only accounts for 20%, emphasizing the critical role of social determinants of health (SDOH) and individual behaviors in the remaining 80%.

WFUSOM’s Community Plunge, established in 2002, involves a guided tour of the community, discussions with residents, and debriefing sessions. Qualitative interviews with 20 clinicians were conducted to extract key themes and insights.

The study identified several key outcomes. First, participants gained crucial insights into the community’s history, structural challenges, and prevalent SDOH, enhancing their understanding of the diverse patient populations they serve. Second, the program positively influenced clinician attitudes, fostering empathy, reducing paternalism, and promoting holistic patient care. Third, participants expressed a desire for increased community involvement and reported career trajectory changes toward advocacy and volunteerism. However, challenges such as time constraints were acknowledged.

The study advocates for collaborative efforts to enhance the program’s impact, including proactive measures to ensure respectful engagement during community tours. It positions the Community Plunge as an innovative, scalable, and transformative strategy for experiential SDOH exposure, crucial for the evolving social consciousness of healthcare learners.

Persistence in physician-scientist careers has been suboptimal, particularly among women. There is a gender gap in self-confidence in medicine. We measured the impact of our physician-scientist training programs on trainee’s confidence in professional, personal, and scientific competencies, using a survey measuring self-rated confidence in 36 competencies across two timepoints.

Results were analyzed for the full survey and for thematic subscales identified through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A mixed effects linear model and a difference in differences (DID) design were used to assess the differential impact of the programing by gender and career level.

Analysis included 100 MD-PhD or MD-only medical student or resident/fellow trainees enrolled between 2020 and 2023. Five subscales were identified through EFA; career sustainability, science productivity, grant management, goal setting, and goal alignment (Cronbach’s alpha 0.85–0.94). Overall, mean scores increased significantly for all five subscales. Women significantly increased their confidence levels in all five areas, whereas men increased only in science productivity and grant management. Mixed effects models showed significant increases over time for women compared to men in career sustainability and goal alignment. Residents and fellows had greater increases than medical students across all subscales.

Physician-scientist trainees fellows increased their confidence in personal, professional, and scientific skills during training. Training had a greater impact on women than men in building confidence in sustaining careers and aligning their goals with professional and institutional priorities. The magnitude of increased confidence among residents and fellows exceeded that in medical students.

Otolaryngology (ENT) plays a crucial role in healthcare, yet undergraduate education in the United Kingdom has historically not reflected this. This study aimed to assess the delivery of ENT education, focusing on teaching methods, clinical placements, and assessment practices.

An online questionnaire was distributed to medical students. Data were collected via Qualtrics from 5 August 2023 to 17 October 2023.

Forty medical schools were involved. Thirty-seven schools had compulsory ENT teaching however 20 per cent lack an ENT placement. Clinical placements varied, with an average length of 7.3 days. Assessment of ENT knowledge included Objective, Structures, Clinical Examination stations (90 per cent) and written exams (80 per cent).

The study highlights persistent gaps in ENT education. Deficiencies in clinical exposure and lack of alignment with national guidelines indicate the need for improvement. As the Medical Licensing Assessment approaches, standardising assessments may address disparities but should be accompanied by comprehensive changes in teaching methods and placements.

In response to recommendations for improving the quality and coordination of care delivered by eating disorder services, a whole-team training programme was commissioned by Health Education England in 2020. This paper describes the development and evaluation of the Eating Disorder Services for Adults (EDSA) whole-team training course, delivered to National Health Service adult eating disorder community teams in England. Course participants (n = 561) in the first two EDSA training cohorts (2021 and 2022) were asked to complete questionnaires at intake and after each session, asking about their views on the training.

All course aspects were rated as highly enjoyable, meeting participants’ training needs and fostering reflective practice. Thematic analysis identified themes relating to key innovative features of the course and suggestions for improvements.

Preliminary evaluation suggests that EDSA is valued by clinicians to enhance their knowledge, skills and ability to improve eating disorder patient care.

The new 2021 UK Foundation Programme Curriculum mandates foundation doctors to acquire mental health competencies. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychiatry placements in facilitating competency attainment, foundation doctors’ perceived importance of acquiring these and their preferred teaching methods. Utilising Kirkpatrick's evaluation framework, the study employed a pre–post intervention design assessing the impact of psychiatry placements on 135 foundation doctors across three cohorts from August 2021 to March 2022.

Initially, foundation doctors assigned high importance to mental health competencies. Post-placements, this perceived importance improved slightly, whereas that of clinical skills scenarios slightly decreased. Significant confidence increases were observed in recognising and assessing specific psychiatric disorders. Foundation doctors favoured small seminar groups and on-the-job ad hoc teaching. Qualitative insights underscored the need for context-specific teaching.

Psychiatry placements enhance foundation doctors’ confidence and perceived importance of mental health competencies as specified by the curriculum. Addressing clinical scenario gaps through context-specific teaching and transferable skills development is essential. Customised teaching approaches, especially small seminars and ad hoc teaching, hold promise for effective mental health training.

In general, medical students perceive themselves as inadequately prepared to assist in disasters. This study evaluated the impact of a disaster preparedness curriculum and medical students’ views toward required preparedness education for health care professionals.

A comprehensive disaster preparedness curriculum was evaluated on its effect on medical students’ views on preparedness education requirements, preparedness, and prior disaster training using self-report survey methodology.

Results provide evidence to support curricular effectiveness in significantly increasing initial participant views of health professionals’ education requirements, perceived preparedness for integrating professional roles into the emergency response system, and confidence in exposure risk assessment and triage skills. Most participants possessed limited recent prior disaster training and drill experience. Most interestingly, the majority consistently believed throughout the study that disaster preparedness training should be a medical license mandate.

For those instructing current medical students in disaster preparedness, it is suggested that a curriculum be chosen that can create participant initial anticipation, awareness, and belief in the importance of and need for disaster preparedness training. Further investigation is recommended into the relationship between students’ perceived training importance and any future curriculum delivery efforts on behalf of required or mandatory preparedness offerings in continuing professional development.