Results of the 2019 AMC-MBA Preparedness for Internship Survey
The Australian Medical Council and Medical Board of Australia undertook the 2019 survey of interns in May. The AMC is using feedback from interns received in the survey to drive the scope of its reviews of medical school accreditation standards and the National Internship Framework. Medical schools, intern training accreditation authorities and intern training providers are also using feedback from the survey to support the transition from medical school to internship.
Please click here to see the national results of the 2019 survey.
Summary of National results
The Survey response rate ranged from 12% to 42% across medical schools. Those medical schools with a low response rate had responses from 2018 and 2019 combined to improve statistical reliability. Please see page 4 of the National Results Report for further details.
On average respondents agreed that medical school prepared them to undertake the role and responsibilities of intern, with the following responses:
- 22% strongly agreed
- 52% agreed
- 16% were neutral
- 9% disagreed
- 2% strongly disagreed
The survey asked questions about eight skill groups, including core clinical skills, patient-centred care, documentation, hospital systems, procedural skills, self-management, team work, and professionalism.
The 2019 survey results found:
- A significant overall improvement was recorded from 2018 to 2019 across most skills categories.
- High ratings were given for core clinical skills such as taking a history and performing a physical examination, some patient-centred skills such as communicating with patients, hospital systems skills such as preventing cross-infection, procedural skills such as IV cannulation and a number of other self-management, team and professional skills.
- Areas where interns did not feel as prepared included prescribing drugs, providing nutritional care, understanding of data informatics, error reporting, and taking on a teaching role. Some areas with low ratings are currently a focus for improvement, for example, prescribing skills are being addressed through initiatives such as the pilot of the Prescribing Safety Assessment.
- The level of preparedness for situations requiring support continues to be of concern, although there have been significant year-on-year improvements in most categories. For example, the proportion of respondents feeling either ‘Not at all prepared’ or ‘Poorly prepared’ to raise concerns about bullying or harassment decreased from 33% in 2017 to 30% in 2018 to 24% in 2019.
The results of the survey have been communicated to medical schools and other stakeholders involved in medical education, and has provided a significant improvement in understanding of how best to align training with the real demands of the job.
Thank you to all who participated.
