Beate Baldauf

Preparedness for practice : the perceptions of medical graduates and clinical teams

Background: Earlier research indicated that medical graduates feel unprepared to start work, and that this varies with medical school. Aims: To examine the extent to which graduates from different UK medical schools differed in their perceptions of preparedness for practice, and compare their perceptions with those of clinical team members. Method: An anonymous questionnaire assessing perceptions of 53 aspects of preparedness was devised, and administered to the graduating cohorts of three medical schools: Newcastle (systems-based, integrated curriculum); Warwick (graduate-entry) and Glasgow (problem-based learning). In addition, a triangulating questionnaire was cascaded via ward managers to doctors, nurses and pharmacists who worked with new graduates in their first posts. Results: The response rate for the cohort questionnaire was 69% (479/698). The overall mean preparedness score was 3.5 (on a five-point scale), with no significant difference between schools. On individual items, there were large differences within each site, but smaller differences between sites. Graduates felt most prepared for aspects of working with patients and colleagues, history taking and examination. They felt least prepared for completing a cremation form, some aspects of prescribing, complex practical procedures and for applying knowledge of alternative and complementary therapies, and of the NHS. A total of 80 clinical team questionnaires were completed, similarly showing substantial variation within each site, but smaller differences between sites. Conclusions: New doctors feel relatively unprepared for a number of aspects of practice, a perception shared by their colleagues. Although medical school has some effect on preparedness, greater differences are common across sites. Differences may reflect hidden influences common to all the schools, unintended consequences of national curriculum guidance or common traits in the graduate populations sampled. Further research is needed to identify the causes.

Newly qualified doctors’ perceptions of informal learning from nurses: implications for interprofessional education and practice

Abstract Newly qualified doctors spend much of their time with nurses, but little research has considered informal learning during that formative contact. This article reports findings from a multiple case study that explored what newly qualified doctors felt they learned from nurses in the workplace. Analysis of interviews conducted with UK doctors in their first year of practice identified four overarching themes: attitudes towards working with nurses, learning about roles, professional hierarchies and learning skills. Informal learning was found to contribute to the newly qualified doctors’ knowledge of their own and others’ roles. A dynamic hierarchy was identified: one in which a “pragmatic hierarchy” recognising nurses’ expertise was superseded by a “normative structural hierarchy” that reinforced the notion of medical dominance. Alongside the implicit learning of roles, nurses contributed to the explicit learning of skills and captured doctors’ errors, with implications for patient safety. The findings are discussed in relation to professional socialisation. Issues of power between the professions are also considered. It is concluded that increasing both medical and nursing professions’ awareness of informal workplace learning may improve the efficiency of education in restricted working hours. A culture in which informal learning is embedded may also have benefits for patient safety.

Active ageing in organisations: a case study approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review good practice examples which promote recruitment and retention of older workers and/or the employability of workers as they age and to examine pathways of practice. Design/methodology/approach - Analysis of qualitative data, drawing on a cross-section selection of 83 good practice case studies in labour organisations in eight European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK. Findings - The study presented good practice examples and pathways of practice for the four most frequently found dimensions in the sample (training, lifelong learning and knowledge transfer; flexible working; health protection and promotion and job design; career development and mobility management) as well as examples from small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (construction) and the public sector (transport) adopting strategies that fall within these dimensions. These examples show that innovative solutions to the challenge of an ageing workforce have been developed with good outcomes, often combining a number of measures, e.g. mobility management, health promotion and knowledge transfer. However, there is an uneven profile of age management debates and company strategies across Europe (with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands being more advanced). There is also some evidence of a standstill or roll-back of measures during an economic crisis. Originality/value - The paper reviews organisational measures facilitating the extension of working lives, of which many are longstanding and include sectors previously underrepresented in good practice databases (SMEs, public sector).

Literature Review on Employability, Inclusion and ICT, Report 1: The Concept of employability, with a specific focus on Young people, older workers and migrants

IPTS has launched a research project on how ICT can support employability, in the context of its policy support activities for the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, and the Digital Agenda for Europe. As a first step, JRC-IPTS contracted the Institute of Employment Research, University of Warwick, UK to prepare: a) a review of the literature on employability, its dimensions and the factors which affect it in general and for groups at risk of exclusion, namely migrants, youth and older workers; and b) a report on how ICT contribute to employability, support the reduction of barriers and create pathways to employment for all and also for the three specific groups at risk of exclusion. This report presents the findings of the first part of the research.

Literature review on employability, inclusion and ICT, report 2 : ICT and employability

IPTS has launched a research project on how ICT can support employability, in the context of its policy support activities for the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, and the Digital Agenda for Europe. As a first step, JRC-IPTS contracted the Institute of Employment Research, University of Warwick, UK to prepare: a) a review of the literature on employability, its dimensions and the factors which affect it in general and for groups at risk of exclusion, namely migrants, youth and older workers; and b) a report on how ICT contribute to employability, support the reduction of barriers and create pathways to employment for all and also for the three specific groups at risk of exclusion. This report presents the findings of the second part of the research.

Exploratory research on internet-enabled work exchanges and employability. Analysis and synthesis of qualitative evidence on crowdsourcing for work, funding and volunteers

This report provides analysis of qualitative research into the relationship between the internet-enabled exchanges mentioned and employability. In doing so, it focuses on three areas of crowdsourcing: using the internet to access funding (CSF); using the internet to access and undertake paid work (usually remotely) (CSW); and using the internet to access unpaid work in the form of reciprocal exchanges or volunteering opportunities (which may be undertaken remotely), especially with the aim of developing skills for paid work (CSV).

An Exploration of Quality Part-Time Working in Europe, with a Focus on the UK Case

Part-time working may seem like an ideal solution for women wanting to maintain a work-life balance and increase well-being. Indeed, part-time working is common across many European countries. Evidence from the UK, however, shows that because of the limited part-time options available in highly-skilled jobs, many women compromise by crowding into lower-level part-time jobs. Part-time workers are also at a disadvantage in terms of access to training and development opportunities, with longer-term career implications. In spite of these identified career penalties, evidence has shown that women like part-time work and flexibility in their working hours and report lower work-life conflict than full-time working women. In this chapter, we draw on qualitative data from the UK government-funded Quality Part-Time Work Fund initiative, set up to increase the wider availability of better part-time job opportunities.

Making the Best of a Bad Job? Women and Part-Time Work in the United Kingdom

Forty-two per cent of the female workforce now works part-time. Of these, many have young children, and the more children a woman has, the more likely she is to work either part-time or not at all. Although around two million men also work part-time, this is often due to an inability to gain full-time work. In spite of the high proportion of women in part-time jobs, extensive research has shown that most part-time work is offered in lower-level jobs, with low rates of pay and lower promotion prospects than full-time jobs. This chapter outlines the choices and constraints which women face in relation to paid employment and the various explanations given for women’s reliance on part-time work. We also describe the efforts made by individual women and by various organisations to improve the situation for women wishing to work part-time in better quality jobs. In so doing, we draw on evidence from the government-funded Quality Part-time Work Fund initiative.

ICT, internet-enabled work and implications for space and entrepreneurship

In the context of developments in information and communications technologies (ICTs) there is growing interest in opportunities for internet-enabled entrepreneurship. As the internet and ICTs have extended their reach in the economic and social spheres, so they have opened new possibilities and practices in the organisation, content and conduct of work and skills development, how work is contracted and where and how it is undertaken. The internet can alter the contours of labour markets and potentially change how individuals interact with them by broadening access to opportunities and enabling remote and mobile working. This chapter explores conceptually what ICT and internet-enabled work means for the location of work at local, national and international levels, drawing on a review of the literature and on findings from case study research with users of selected internet-enabled platforms. It focuses particularly on ‘crowdsourcing’ – defined broadly as an online-mediated exchange that allows users (organisations or individuals) to access other users via the internet to solve specific problems, to undertake specific tasks or to achieve specific aims. It outlines the diversity and key features of internet-enabled working and implications for the location of work and for entrepreneurship. It addresses two important questions: 1) how and whether internet-enabled working enables workers and businesses to operate in global marketplaces, so superseding the confines of neighbourhoods and local labour markets; and 2) how and whether such forms of work can foster local embeddedness by offering opportunities for entrepreneurship from a home location. It is concluded that crowdsourcing has contradictory relationships with space, since it can provide access to global opportunities, while at the same time enabling local work, as well as issues of flexibility and autonomy.