Echocardiography is an essential investigation for cardiology services, with its activity directly correlated to cardiothoracic activity, morbidity, and mortality. Much research has been undertaken show that most New Zealand echo departments are under performing. Three key areas highlighted in this presentation: training, allocated scan times, sonographer call duties. proposals make the three a...

The 1981 Short report onmedical education in Britain recommended changes in the medical career structure.' Many other reports have addressed the fundamental problem associated with the traditional three tier structure of the consultant led team consisting of consultants, registrars, and house officers. In essence this problem arises from two conflicting requirements: the need to provide trainin...

THE SURGEONS I first met Mr (as he was then) George Johnston and Mr Terence Kennedy in the old Wards 5 and 6 in the Royal Victoria Hospital (now demolished) 2 when I was a student. They had strikingly different personalities-Mr Kennedy was more than a little daunting but both were constantly stimulating and renowned teachers. The teaching ward rounds revealed surgical cases in the true sense of...

Hepatitis B vaccination is not widespread amongst staff in accident and emergency departments in the United Kingdom. The results of a survey of departments training senior registrars reveal that unfounded fears concerning the safety of the vaccine are responsible for the low uptake. The need for vaccination, cost, medicolegal aspects and future developments are discussed.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is to host the European School of Internal Medicine for two years from 2009-10. This affords a unique opportunity for specialist registrars to exchange ideas about professional development and training and to make contacts with young internists from across Europe. Such links should prove useful for future RCP initiatives in European medicine.

Sir,,?in order to have the light of public opinion on a quesffi'1 ^le. solution of which would be interesting to all medical ?, c?rs in charge of sub-divisions and dispensaries, I send you following lines, and beg that you will be good enough to Publish them in a corner of your much esteemed journal. I nope that through the intercession of your pen by publishing e Question in your column of the...

BACKGROUND AND GOAL Curriculum development for residency training is increasingly challenging in times of financial restrictions and time limitations. Several countries have adopted the CanMEDS framework for medical education as a model into their curricula of specialty training. The purpose of the present study was to validate the competency goals, as derived from CanMEDS, of the Department of...

Fibre-optic bronchoscopy has traditionally been performed by respiratory physicians and registrars. It is an invaluable investigation for diagnosing lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Modern bronchoscopy techniques make the procedure safe for most patients, apart from those who are gravely ill, or who have a gross reduction in respiratory reserve (Stradling, 1991).

BACKGROUND Surgical simulation is becoming increasingly important in surgical education. Despite the important work done on simulators, simulator model development, and simulator assessment methodologies, there is a need for development of integrated simulators in the curriculum. In this paper, we describe the design of our evidence-based preclinical training program for medical students applyi...

BACKGROUND Smart phone technology is becoming increasingly integrated into medical care.Our study compared an iPhone modified flexible fibreoptic bronchoscope as an intubation aid and clinical teaching tool with an unmodified bronchoscope, Glidescope® and Macintosh laryngoscope in a simulated normal and difficult airway scenario. METHODS Sixty three anaesthesia providers, 21 consultant anaest...