Postgraduate medical journal
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To examine junior doctors' experience and perceptions of medical errors in which they had been involved. ⋯ There is a need to prepare junior doctors to manage, and cope with, medical error and to ensure that healthcare professionals are adequately supported throughout their careers.
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Scientific conferences in the UK are attended by practising doctors and medical students for sharing research, networking and professional development. Student/trainee conferences are typically cheaper than professional conferences, but as they are not acknowledged in national scoring systems for medical and surgical training applications, they may have worse attendance than otherwise possible. We questioned whether student/trainee conferences are of a similar scientific quality to professional conferences, while being considerably cheaper. ⋯ Our results show that student/trainee conferences offer a similar level of scientific quality to professional medical conferences in the UK at a fraction of the cost, which should be reflected within the national scoring systems.
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The rate of laboratory test utilisation has been increasing unsustainably. Evaluating inappropriately repeated laboratory tests is promising because objective criteria are available to measure the rates while causes can be manipulated easily. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence, associated factors and financial burden of inappropriate repeat tests. ⋯ There are several factors that increase the rate of inappropriate repeat tests. They should be considered during health policy making or planning interventions to reduce inappropriate repeat tests.