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Could the development of an interactive website facilitate communication between psychiatric trainees?

Institute for Aging and Health, Wolfson Research Centre, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle NE4 6BE, e-mail: jonathan.richardson{at}ncl.ac.uk

David Cousins, Specialist Registrar in Psychiatry and Brian Lunn, Consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Lecturer

Newcastle General Hospital

Effective and efficient communication between junior doctors in a training scheme is important if their training needs are to be fully met. As such the College requires that each training scheme has a trainees’ committee. Effective communication is important in terms of trainee representation but can be difficult when training schemes are spread over a large geographical area. Electronic communication may overcome this problem and provide additional benefits (Huang & Alessi, 1996).

We wished to ascertain how well trainees understood their local system of representation and to canvas opinion about whether a website could facilitate this representation. A questionnaire was sent to trainees within the northern region of England; 73 out of 179 (41%) trainees responded to the questionnaire. Although only 48 respondents (65%) reported having received minutes of the trainees’ meeting, all had access to the internet. Most trainees (65, 89%) welcomed the suggestion of the development of a website. Factors identified that would encourage use of the website included an examinations section, study tips and advice, and a discussion forum. A website for trainees in the northern deanery was therefore developed (http://www.northernpsychiatrytrainees.com) to address these issues. Its use by and acceptability to psychiatric trainees at all levels will be monitored.

References

HUANG, M. P. & ALESSI, N. (1996) The Internet and the future of psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 861 –869.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Richardson, J. Articles by Lunn, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Richardson, J. Articles by Lunn, B.