Are hospitals any good at helping SHOs make career decisions?
Another area of controversy has been the notion of career support. Currently this is haphazard or non-existent for most SHOs. Unless fundamental changes are made to the way career decisions are supported and encouraged there simply isn’t the manpower to help SHOs make vital choices so quickly. No one has yet come up with a practical answer, but Modernising Medical Careers calls for the introduction of “rigorous counselling and career advice.” Sarah Thomas, the postgraduate dean for South Yorkshire and South Humber Deanery, based in Sheffield–the first deanery to pilot year two of the Foundation Programme from August 2003–says: “Trainees often don’t know what they want to do. They will be better able to identify what they are good at with objective assessments of their competencies and will also be encouraged to become more self aware, by taking advantage of the career advice on offer.” Individual “personal development plans,” which set expectations for training, are a step in the rig
