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Flexible training

Wonford House, Exeter EX2 7AF

I am a senior house officer who has been training under a flexible training scheme for the past 2 years. Like any other trainee in psychiatry, I have read with great interest the recent publications regarding the imminent changes in training and I have wondered how flexible training will be affected by the introduction of modular and work place-based assessments.

I understand the College is committed to improving and developing flexible training (Ramsay, 2005) and am pleased to report that such has been my experience. During my 2 years as a flexible trainee I have experienced some difficulties in attending all teaching sessions because some in-house sessions fell on days that I did not work. Most flexible trainees work six sessions (equivalent to 3 days) a week.

It would appear that flexible trainees are satisfied with current training schemes. Flexibly trained psychiatrists have been found to outperform their full-time colleagues in terms of how quickly they gain College Membership (assessed by the number of examination attempts) (Mears et al, 2004). I am again pleased to report that this has been my experience.

It has been suggested that nationally 14% of all psychiatrists train flexibly (Mears et al, 2004). In 2003 over 60% of all applicants to medical schools in the UK were female (British Medical Association, 2004). It seems reasonable to predict an increase in the number of women trainees in psychiatry (Ramsay, 2005). This could mean more trainees wanting to train flexibly.

I think it is very important that the College considers flexible training during the current revision so that the scheme will be compatible with part-time working.

References

BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (2004) The Demography of Medical Schools: A Discussion Paper. London: BMA. http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/DemographyMedSchls/$file/demography.pdf

MEARS, A., ETCHEGOYEN, A., STORMONT, F., et al (2004) Female psychiatrists’career development after flexible training. Psychiatric Bulletin, 28, 201 –203.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

RAMSAY, R. (2005) Womenin Psychiatry: ten years of a special interest group. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11, 383 –384.[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 Ipe, A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Ipe, A.