News

It’s time to end the fearmongering about training

In the latest edition of Australian medicine, AMACDT Deputy Co-chair, Dr Kate Kearney, talks about the doctor in training (DiT) "panic money pie", and the way that fear-mongering is affecting both their training and wallets.

"What is the appeal of pursuing these type of extracurricular activities? DiTs are afraid, of not passing exams, not getting onto a training program, not getting a job at the end of many years training. Fear about the state of the Australian medical workforce is drilled into us from the first year of medical school" writes Dr Kearney.

“The RACP advocates for both fellows and trainees to follow the 70:20:10 model of learning - where 70 per cent is experiential, 20 per cent social and 10 per cent formal learning. This is the type of sensible approach that DITs need to reinforce in their own thinking and see demonstrated in the workplace. Supervisors and mentors are an important part of modelling realistic behaviour” said Dr Kearney.

“I would ask DITs to consider how any course aligns with their educational aims and assess as objectively as possible the cost-benefit in terms of time, money and stress.”

Read Dr Kearney’s article Fearmongering with doctors in training

Related topics