Foundation Doctors and the New Mental Health Curricula: What They Think and What They Want

AIMS: The new United Kingdom Foundation Programme Curriculum was implemented in 2021 and emphasizes the importance of Foundation Trainees (FTs) acquiring mandatory core skills and knowledge in mental health. The primary aim of our study was to enquire if the FTs perceive the new psychiatry competencies to be important and relevant to their needs. Secondarily we compared what the curriculum is offering with what FTs wished to have been offered. METHODS: A hybrid questionnaire was delivered online via Google forms to all foundation doctors before and after their psychiatry rotation. Data collection took place between August 2021 and March 2023 from a sample of 85 FTs. The quantitative data were elicited via 5-point Likert scales that mapped FTs' perception of importance across areas of required knowledge and core psychiatric skills from ‘not at all’ important to ‘extremely’ important. The data were imported into Microsoft Excel and analysed via descriptive statistics. The qualitative component of eliciting what FTs want by using open-ended questions was analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: The entry survey data show a combined median perceived importance of 4 (Very important) for recognizing, assessing, and managing mental health conditions. Out of these, personality disorder rated lowest with a median answer of 3 (Fairly important). These scores have seen a significant improvement in the exit survey with an overall combined median result of 5 (Extremely important). But not all areas have seen improvement, for example, eating disorders and Somatisation disorders remained unchanged with a median of 4. Interestingly, the median perceived importance of practicing core skills and managing clinical scenarios has not shown an improvement, but a slight decrease over a few categories, going from a median answer of 5 to 4. The qualitative data show that FTs would have liked to learn more about Child and Developmental Psychiatry, Bereavement, and acute health context teaching. They also wanted to learn communication skills and about psychiatry career paths and academic opportunities. CONCLUSION: The overall baseline perceived importance of psychiatry competencies was satisfactory, with most conditions being rated as very important. Post placements there was a shift in responses, with the same conditions being rated as extremely important. Supraspecialised areas continue to be perceived as least important and curiously, FT's importance perception of practicing core skills in the acute setting decreased. Future research should qualitatively look at why their perceptions changed and how we can improve context teaching in a heterogeneous group.