Supporting Pre-registration House Officers: the needs of educational supervisors of the first phase of postgraduate medical education

The GMC's publication The New Doctor (GMC 1997) outlines an approach for the education of Pre-registration House Officers using designated educational supervisors. In order to establish appropriate means of training consultants to undertake this role, the Centre for Postgraduate and Continuing Medical Education at the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham undertook a needs analysis. This consisted of a series of individual interviews with directors of postgraduate education in the mid-Trent region, four focus groups with consultants, and two dissemination workshops. The findings from the research have led to the development of a modular educational programme, based on the perceived needs and optimum structure indicated by the participants in the research process.