The development and evaluation of a personal learning log for Senior HouseOfficers

Object To develop and evaluate the effect of having a personal learning log on Senior House Officers knowledge and confidence. Methods A multiple choice paper and a confidence checklist for two hospital specialties were developed to assess knowledge and confidence. These were administered to a control group and to an intervention group who had the le arning log. Both groups completed an evaluation at the end of the post. Setting The study took place in Accident & Emergency and Obstetric & Gynaec ology posts in Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire. Subjects 79 Senior House Officers in Accident & Emergency and 78 Senior Hou se Officers in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Results The mean scores in the MCQ and the mode in the confidence checklist increased significantly in both specialties during the post, but there was no significant difference between the control and intervention groups. For ty two learning logs were returned at the end of the study and analysis of these revealed that there was great scope for learning but few documented t he specific learning achieved. Evaluation of the posts revealed that some i mprovements had taken place in teaching and assessment frequency, however, there was scope for further improvement. Conclusion While the problems of hospital training are well documented, an attempt to improve the situation using a learning log did not have a statis tically significant impact on SHO knowledge or confidence. A six-month hosp ital post appears to present many opportunities for learning but these are not exploited. It is suggested that three things are needed. Firstly, activ e participation by and personalized feedback from a senior member of staff, with training where needed. Secondly, protected time for tutorials with a planned system of formative assessment, and thirdly, a more positive approa ch to learning by both SHOs and consultants. Once this occurs, a learning l og may have a more significant impact on training.