The development and uses of a computerized evaluation tool for senior house office posts in the West Midlands Region, UK

The senior house officer grade contains the largest group of junior doctors in the United Kingdom. For many years there has been concern over their poor training, long hours of work, poor supervision, little or no feedback (often given inappropriately), and their levels of psychological distress. Evaluation of senior house officer posts has been cumbersome and inconsistent. This paper describes the origins, design, piloting, testing for reliability and subsequent use of a simple 10-point evaluation form for senior house officers in the West Midlands. The process has now been computerized, and has been incorporated into the postgraduate dean's database of all junior doctor posts in the West Midlands. The evaluation of all 1500 senior house officer posts can now be performed every 6 months. Detailed results can be obtained and fed back to clinical tutors, hospitals, and Royal Colleges. The uses of such data in improving the lot of the senior house officer are discussed.