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The cost of teaching an intern in New South Wales
Author(s) -
Oates R Kim,
Goulston Kerry J,
Bingham Craig M,
Dent Owen F
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja13.10213
Subject(s) - investment (military) , medical education , psychology , medicine , mathematics education , political science , politics , law
Abstract Objective: 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. Design, setting and participants: 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. Main outcome measures: 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. Results: 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. Conclusion: 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.