The cost of teaching an intern in New South Wales

To determine the cost of formal and informal teaching specifically provided for interns and to determine how much of an intern's time is spent in these activities.

Costs of formal teaching for 2012 were obtained from the New South Wales Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) and costs of informal teaching by a survey of all interns in a random sample of prevocational networks.

The cost of formal intern education provided by HETI; the number of hours of formal teaching provided to interns in hospital; intern estimates of the amount of non-timetabled teaching received in a typical week.

The cost of formal teaching was $11 892 per intern per year and the cost of informal teaching was $2965 per intern per year (survey response rate, 63%) - a total of $14 857. Interns spent 2 hours per week in formal teaching and 28 minutes per week in informal teaching, representing 6.2% of a 40-hour week.

The time of professionals paid by NSW Health represents most of the expenditure on teaching interns. An increase in time spent on intern teaching beyond the current 6.2% of an intern's 40-hour week would be an investment in better health care.