Preregistration house officers in the four Thames regions: II. Comparison of education and workload in teaching and non-teaching hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: To detect differences in the education and workload of preregistration house officers working in teaching and non-teaching hospitals. DESIGN: A postal questionnaire. SETTING: Teaching and non-teaching hospitals in the four Thames regions. PARTICIPANTS: 1064 Preregistration house officers. RESULTS: Response rate was 61% for teaching hospitals and 73% for non-teaching hospitals. House officers in teaching hospitals had significantly fewer inpatients under their care (house physicians 16.9 v 22.9, house surgeons 17.9 v 20.3) and admitted fewer emergency patients per week (house physicians 7.7 v 12.7, house surgeons 6.5 v 9.8). More house officers in teaching hospitals reported that they had too few patients to provide adequate clinical experience. More of their time was consumed by administrative activities devoid of educational value. CONCLUSION: Preregistration house officer posts at teaching hospitals provide less clinical activity and are perceived as less educationally satisfactory by their holders than those elsewhere.