Building confidence for work as house officers: student experience in the final year of a new problem-based curriculum

Introduction Newly qualified doctors require an appropriate level of confidence for their new roles. Development of this confidence was a key objective in the final year of a new integrated course with an emphasis on student self-direction. Context There are 5 placements in the final year course. Students use a Learning Planner to help them choose suitable placements and objectives to serve their learning needs. Educational supervision focuses on helping students determine their objectives and assessing them against these. Methods Course evaluation was by means of a questionnaire during final assessments. Cohorts of 310 and 316 students in successive years completed the evaluation. The interrelationship between variables was explored using logistic regression. Results 220/310 students in the 2000 cohort and 214/316 in the 2001 cohort agreed they felt confident with their prospective role as a pre-registration house officer (PRHO). Confidence was significantly associated with confidence in their clinical skills, belief in their ability to cope with uncertainty and feeling able to work as a team member. The experience of the 2 hospital placements and (in 2000 only) the elective was associated with increased confidence. In all placements helpful educational supervision and the achievement of the self-directed learning plan was associated with increased confidence as a potential doctor. Conclusion Students perceive a relationship between learning experiences in the final year of a self-directed course and development of confidence for their future role. Whilst further elucidation of the nature of this relationship is required, this provides encouragement to curriculum planners to promote self-direction.