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Most accident and emergency (A&E) specialist registrar (SpR) training programmes comprise relatively few registrars distributed between several units. Despite this many regions run regular regionwide activities such as teaching sessions, exam preparation, audit, and research. These are usually organised by trainees with limited secretarial support and funding.
The internet is now widely accessible, inexpensive, and permits rapid communication of multiple forms of information across geographical boundaries. Its role in medical teaching is expanding; it is already used for dissemination of teaching material in medicine and for forum discussions on topics of specialist interest,).
Table 1 Web sites relevant to accident and emergency training
National | |
Acad-ae-med mailing list | www.baem.org.uk/acadae.htm |
BAEM | www.baem.org.uk |
BAETA | www.baem.org.uk/baeta.htm |
FAEM | www.faem.org.uk |
Regional | |
North Thames region | www.teachingdocs.co.uk |
SouthEast Thames region | www.baem.org.uk/setrainees/ |
Wessex region | www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~coyote/wraeta.htm |
West Midlands region | medweb.bham.ac.uk/wmaet/ |
Yorkshire region | www.users.totalise.co.uk/~alockey/index.htm |
We describe the use of internet technologies to facilitate A&E SpR teaching in the Northern region.
DEVELOPMENT
The Northern Region employs 18 registrars in 10 units in four counties. The SpRs attend regional teaching sessions every two weeks rotating between host units. They are organised by a nominated trainee and are currently not formally funded. Each session requires each SpR to undertake some preparatory work and a summary is produced at the end. Traditionally this has involved multiple mailshots and telephone calls to each SpR and trainer. This programme has developed on a background of increasing SpR numbers spread over an expanding range of training units, and a requirement to improve the training value of the sessions.
To achieve these aims within the limited resources available a Northern Region A&E SpR mailing list and web site was established.
Mailing list
This permits easy dissemination to all SpRs and trainers of all news relating to the A&E SpR teaching programme via electronic mail (email).
Web site ( www.northernaemweb.org.uk )
The primary purpose of the site was to coordinate the teaching programme and so a section of the site relates to the teaching meetings. A timetable for the academic term is displayed. For each session a preview is available, this provides details of the format and objectives of the session including the...