Results
Of the 26 run through trainees in England 23 responded (12:ST1, 11:ST2). The educational background of the trainees found 12 attended private and 11 state run secondary school. The most frequent year of graduation was 2016, with the largest number of trainees graduating from The University of Birmingham. Seventeen trainees held additional degrees and 4 were in an alternative training programme prior to starting ST1 (Figure 1). The majority (n=11) of trainees moved straight from foundation training into a run through post with 8 and 4 trainees having a 1 year and 2 year gap respectively. The median amount of ENT exposure (including foundation training) prior to starting ST1 was 4 months (Range: 0-17 months) (Figure 2).
The trainees most commonly decided to pursue a career in ENT on the year of the interview or the year preceding (Figure 3). The median ranking at the core surgical interview was 27 (range: 3-174). In total 91% ranked a non-run through post. 87% of those surveyed stated geographical stability was a factor in applying for the run through post.
During the run through pilot 48% of trainees were contacted by their regional trainee run through lead, of those 45% found this helpful. Overall, trainees will spend a median of 6 months (range 0-16 months) in both a secondary and tertiary ENT centre, with 10 trainees only experiencing one of these care settings. Additionally, 91% of trainees have 2 allied specialty placements during their ST1 and ST2 years. The majority of the trainees thought that being on the run-through pilot had increased their ENT trainer engagement which was not the case for non-ENT trainers (Figure 4). Nineteen trainees were members of ENT UK at the time of survey.
Of the 11 surveyed ST2s 9 felt equipped to become an ST3, 3 planned to attend the 2020 national selection and 10 the ST3 bootcamp. The trainees attending ENT national selection had the aim of changing region.