A survey of education and research facilities for palliative medicine trainees in the United Kingdom

In June 1997 a postal questionnaire was sent to all palliative medicine tra inees in the United Kingdom to ascertain the resources available to facilit ate education and research, and the experiences of trainees who had underta ken research. Questions posed related to protected study time, library faci lities, information technology (IT) support, postgraduate educational activ ities, details of research projects undertaken, level of senior supervision and overall impressions. The response rate was 85%. Thirty-six per cent of respondents were undertak ing postgraduate educational courses and 30% of those remaining planned to do so. Protected time for study was allocated to almost all trainees, but a ccess to educational resources was more variable. The availability of sever al journals and of information technology support was lower than their perc eived importance. Satisfaction scores for the availability of books coverin g areas related to clinical practice were high, but were lower for availabi lity of the Internet and of books covering specific training issues. Ninety-one per cent of respondents had been involved in research/audit proj ects, two-thirds had published at least one article and half had presented an oral or written paper. Details of 162 projects were received, together w ith problems encountered. The results indicate that many of the foundations for specialist education in palliative medicine are in place and that trainees are highly motivated towards conducting research. The aspects in need of improvement on the educ ational side include IT facilities and the availability of specific special ity related journals. There is a need for more accessible supervision from senior colleagues and training in research methodology.