NHS - UK Transitioning from a final year medical student to a FY1 doctor can be a stressful experience for many newly graduated doctors due to the uncertainty of the next stage in their careers. Surveys suggest many feel unsupported, lacking confidence and singled out by media campaigns such as ‘Black Wednesday’. This is detrimental for both junior doctors and can effect patient expectations.

We ran the ACE FY1 course at three locations preceding the start of the Foundation Programme. The course aimed to include practical matters such as managing finances, provide an opportunity for simulation of an acutely unwell patient and discussion of prioritisation of bleeps, how to be a successful Muslim doctor, and a general Q&A session. The programme included lecture-based workshops and practical sessions such as the simulation. Equipment such as CPR dummies and airway adjuncts were provided during the simulation session, and ARCP checklists were also provided for all attendees to take home.

Our pre event survey showed that 18% had above average confidence going into FY1. After our event this figure rose to 64%. Before the event we found that 5% were very confident going into FY1, but after our event this number rose to 18%. We also created a schematic analysis of our feedback which showed that attendees thought we were knowledgeable, helpful, informative and the content was material that was previously uncovered.

Hence we found that our event greatly improved the confidence and knowledge of new FY1 doctors and the subsequent care they would deliver.