UKAFP and how this affects the management of the programme. We have 732 interns in total across six intern networks but only four academic interns per network. This has allowed us to adopt a consistent national approach, with academic interns in all networks receiving broadly the same experience. The Trinity Network has provided a 0.5FTE lecturer/registrar and administrative support to the programme; this facilitates stewardship thorough project planning and preparation stages prior to commencement. The academic interns’ projects encompass a broad range of specialty interests (Appendix 7), with twenty-eight specialties represented in total*. The most commonly represented specialties are Oncology (n=8), Anaesthesia (n=6), Obstetrics and Gynaecology (n=6), Orthopaedic surgery (n=5) and Paediatrics (n=5), all areas where high quality supervisors have been identified. Analysis suggest interns publish predominantly in the specialty represented by their academic track projects. Eightyfive of the 109 publications attributed to academic interns during and after the AIT are within the same field as their academic track project. Even at the most junior level, academic interns are making substantial contributions to their areas of interest.
Specialties represented by academic track interns 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Fig 14: Specialties represented by academic intern projects 2017-2019 (n=72) *There is some overlap between clinical specialty and medical education or healthcare leadership and management. Where >1 field was involved, the project was attributed to the specialty of the supervisor.
Career Progression and Retention In 2017/18 on formal reporting, 10/12 participants confirmed they were remaining in Ireland for their first SHO year, with two planning to travel abroad. However, informally 22/24 or (92%) planned to stay in Ireland and subsequently did. In 2018 /19 none intended to apply for a training scheme abroad and just 10% planned to take up non-scheme work abroad. Of the remainder, 42.6% planned to take up a BST post in Ireland, join a GP schemes, take a stand-alone post or undertake further study. In contrast, 50%-70% of interns who have completed the standard intern-training programme emigrate abroad for at least their first SHO year, most often to Australia, New Zealand or the UK. The first AIT cohort provided open-ended responses regarding 5yr career intentions, 50% were aiming for HST scheme and 42% were aiming for ICAT in Ireland. By the second cohort, this had risen 27
