The IM&T training needs of doctors in an acute UK NHS trust

Advanced information systems are seen as a key factor in plans to modernise the delivery of healthcare. In the UK, the General Medical Council and the Information Authority have stressed the need for doctors to possess not just IT skills, but more generic Health Informatics competencies. Trust hospitals have a responsibility to ensure that clinicians in their employ have the requisite skills, knowledge and competencies to use the systems which will soon be implemented (e.g. electronic patient record systems, booking systems, prescribing systems). There is concern that the lack of formal IM&T training in senior clinicians will threaten the implementation of electronic patient record systems in the UK [1,2]. This poster reports on a training needs analysis of 116 doctors working in a UK acute hospital. Three key sets of findings emerged from the questionnaire study. Firstly, contrary to expectations, the IT skills and perceived training needs of the Senior and Junior Staff were not significantly different. Secondly, Senior doctors were better informed than the juniors about health informatics topics. Finally, all doctors defined their own training needs not in relation to Health Informatics but in terms of acquiring IT skills. Education programmes must take into account the current skills of the workforce and their perceptions of their training needs