Consultants in Scotland: survey of educational qualifications, experience and needs of Scottish consultants.

Aims: To survey Scotland's NHS consultants regarding their teaching roles; educational qualifications/training; attitudes to educational qualifications; perceptions of health boards' attitudes to educational activities; usefulness of various educational courses and preferred delivery methods.

Methods: Postal questionnaire (n=3615).

Results: Sixty two percent response rate (n=2246). 98% had one or more roles in education/training. 54% spent more time in educational roles than job-plan allocations. 6% had educational qualifications. 30% rated educational qualifications valuable to their educational role; 21% to their career. 48% had not attended any educational training. 19% of respondents rated their health board as supportive of their educational activities. Respondents rated dealing with underperforming students (74%), dealing with challenging behaviour (63%), appraising students (63%), trainee assessment (61%) and feedback (58%) as the most useful topics.

Conclusions: Scottish consultant involvement in educational activities is virtually universal but consultants perceive they need more time than allocated in job plans. Most consultants had no teaching qualifications. Nearly half had no formal training for educational activities. Educational qualifications were valued by a minority regarding both career development and educational activities. Increased access to staff development for teaching is required as NHS sources are not meeting the need for teacher training of consultant staff.