Perceptions of doctors on being treated by a doctor just completing the house job

To determine the percentage of medical teachers and fresh doctors who feel that graduating doctors are competent or incompetent to handle common ailments and to evaluate the reasons for their perceptions.

Sequential mixed method.

First phase extending from December 2010 to December 2011 and second phase was conducted in March 2014.

First phase comprised electronic distribution of questionnaire to 100 medical teachers and fresh doctors working in hospitals attached with 5 private and 5 public sector medical colleges of Lahore and Karachi to rate an average house officer on a frequency scale of 1 - 6 and do self-assessment, in case of a fresh doctor. The second phase included interviews of 20 medical teachers to explore justification for their rating in the survey questionnaire and for triangulation of data. Quantitative data was analyzed through SPSS version 15 to calculate frequencies and percentages and interviews were analyzed through quasi-statistical approach.

In survey, 38.36% out of 73 medical teachers and 30% out of 20 medical teachers in interviews confirmed their confidence on consulting fresh doctors for common ailments as opposed to 61.64% and 70% respectively, expressing their dissatisfaction. Self-assessment of fresh doctors indicated that 40% are confident in handling common medical conditions as opposed to 33.3% out of 75 respondents, who are not confident about their clinical skills.

Faculty and self-assessment of fresh doctors has a fair overlap, indicating room for further improvement in the house job training program.