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This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background. This article uses a case study approach to describe and analyse how a peer-led committee was used to develop leadership skills among junior doctors. Junior doctors are a potentially powerful group of leaders within the healthcare sector, yet more senior staff members may encounter difficulty engaging with this group. Leadership and engagement are essential for optimal functioning of an organisation. Alternatives. Typical methods used to develop leadership skills and promote engagement with leadership activities include higher degrees, short courses, coaching, and experiential learning activities. One alternative can be to use experiential learning that has be informed by situated learning theory and the concept of communities of practice. Solution. A peer-led committee of junior doctors was established using to develop leadership skills and promote engagement with leadership activities. The committee was designed to address five features of a community of practice: mutual engagement, joint enterprise, shared repertoire, learning, and community. This peer-led committee included elected roles and met regularly out of hours over two sites within the Southern District Health Board, New Zealand. Recommendations. This intervention was well-received by junior doctors and has been sustained in the Southern District Health Board. A peer-led committee structured with the features of a community of practice may be useful method for others to use when they seek to promote and support the development leadership skills of junior doctors.
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BACKGROUND: Junior doctors have been found to suffer from high levels of burnout. AIMS: To measure burnout in a population of junior doctors in Ireland and identify if: levels of burnout are similar to US medical residents; there is a change in the pattern of burnout during the first year of postgraduate clinical practice; and burnout is associated with self-reported error. METHODS: The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was distributed to Irish junior doctors from five training networks in the last quarter of 2015 when they were approximately 4 months into their first year of clinical practice (time 1), and again 6 months later (time 2). The survey assessed burnout and whether they had made a medical error that had 'played on (their) mind'. RESULTS: A total of 172 respondents out of 601 (28.6%) completed the questionnaire on both occasions. Irish junior doctors at time 2 were more burned out than a sample of US medical residents (72.6% and 60.3% burned out, respectively; p=0.001). There was a significant increase in emotional exhaustion from time 1 to time 2 (p=0.007). The association between burnout and error was significant at time 2 only (p=0.03). At time 2, of those respondents who were burned out, 81/122 (66.4%) reported making an error. A total of 22/46 (47.8%) of the junior doctors who were not burned out at time 2 reported an error. CONCLUSION: Current levels of burnout are unsustainable and place the health of both junior doctors and their patients at risk.