Views, behaviours and perceived staff development needs of doctors and surgeons regarding learners in outpatient clinics.

Introduction: The need to use outpatient clinics as a major learning environment in hospitals for students and doctors-in-training is clear. However, consultant supervisors perceive major barriers to this and continue to rely heavily on traditional inpatient learning. This quantitative study examines what approaches consultant supervisors employ in outpatient learning, together with what they perceive themselves to use and what they would value in further training.

Involving medical students in staff development activities.

Staff development is seen as a key aspect of medical education and many teachers/tutors are now required to attend some formal development activity. However, most workshops do not involve the student. In Manchester, the philosophy is to actively involve students in all aspects of the undergraduate course including delivery and evaluation.