What impact will the conversion of two district general hospitals into teaching hospitals have?
Mathers J; Parry J; Lewis S; Greenfield S Department of Public Health & Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, UK. Matherjm@medgp3.bham.ac.uk AIM: To gather opinions from a variety of healthcare professionals in Birmingham and the Black Country as to the potential impact of ‘converting’ 2 district general hospitals into teaching hospitals. METHODS: Thirty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals including Directors of Public Health, Community Health Council Chief Officers, Trust Chief Executives, medical directors, trust managerial and consultant staff, junior doctors and nurses. Interviewees were asked to outline what they felt the major impacts of the ‘conversion’ to teaching status were likely to be. RESULTS: Five main thematic areas were identified from the interviews. Three of these related to the medical students receiving their clinical training in the new teaching hospitals, the teachers undertaking new or additional teaching duties and the
