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‘Research day’ – is it a misnomer?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nanda Dayalan
Affiliation:
Lymebrook Mental Health Resource Centre, Stoke-on-Trent ST5 7TL, email: nandak.dayalan@northstaffs.nhs.uk
Richard Hodgson
Affiliation:
Lymebrook Mental Health Resource Centre, Stoke-on-Trent
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Abstract

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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2007

Okolo & Ogundipe (Psychiatric Bulletin, July 2006, 30, 275–277) could not substantiate why the research day was considered useful by consultant psychiatrists in the West Midlands, but the majority of trainees had used the day for non-research purposes. Perhaps this is why it was considered useful. Certainly, with the changing face of training in psychiatry and the emphasis on new ways of working for consultant psychiatrists (Department of Health, 2005), the day could be used to enhance skills that would be useful to consultants.

It was noted that the day was not particularly productive in terms of publications and no mention was made to this effect. Other issues for discussion are the local availability of suitable training and supervision for research, access to statistical advice, and the lack of clear consensus on what to do in the day. If the day is going to be used to pursue other interests, we need to rethink whether our current approach is beneficial. For example, Hewson et al (Reference Hewson, Hooper and Worrall-Davies2006) proposed that management experience should be an integral part of training for future consultants at an earlier stage. Most would wish to have protected time to acquire specialised skills. We suggest a more pragmatic approach to the research day. Perhaps the first step would be to rechristen it (for example, ‘career enrichment day’). This day could be utilised by the specialist registrar to pursue their particular field of interest, be it research, a higher degree, audit or management.

References

Department of Health (2005) New Ways of Working for Psychiatrists: Enhancing Effective, Person-Centred Service through New Ways of Working in Multidisciplinary and Multiagency Contexts. Department of Health. http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/12/23/44/04122344.pdf Google Scholar
Hewson, L., Hooper, S. & Worrall-Davies, A. (2006) Taking on the management: training specialist registrars in child and adolescent psychiatry. Psychiatric Bulletin, 30, 7174.Google Scholar
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