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Postgraduate education: challenges for the paediatric workforce of the future?
  1. Tim W R Lee1,
  2. Arnab K Seal1,
  3. Douglas E Simkiss2
  1. 1 Postgraduate Programme in Child Health, Leeds Institute for Medical Education, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
  2. 2 British Association for Community Child Health, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Tim W R Lee; t.w.r.lee{at}leeds.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2023-326554

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    What makes a good paediatrician? What are the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies expected of paediatricians? The UK General Medical Council (GMC) guidance on what makes good doctors and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) curricula have, over the years, set out these expectations clearly. However, how a paediatric trainee will acquire these competencies is delegated to local arrangements. While hands-on experience in the wards and ad hoc teaching sessions may allow trainees to acquire skills, with the pressures of training and reducing training times, it has become increasingly difficult for trainees to acquire all the relevant knowledge and competencies. In the 1990s, paediatricians in different parts of the UK set up master’s degrees to address those competencies that are not easily acquired on the job. These courses were very popular, but changes in the university funding models and support from Health Education bodies have led to many closing. MSc courses that did run in Nottingham, Newcastle, Warwick, Cardiff and Glasgow have all finished and the course in Leeds has shut its door to new students.

    All these programmes aimed to support and enhance postgraduate training in paediatrics and child health alongside and beyond that provided through the RCPCH training curricula. For …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors TL contributed to conceptualisation, wrote the first draft, contributed to subsequent drafts, prepared for submission and acts as the corresponding author. AKS and DES contributed to conceptualisation, critical review, reworking and contribution to subsequent drafts. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published and are accountable for all aspects of the submission.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests All authors are or have been involved in delivering Postgraduate Child Health Programmes in the UK.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.