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Types Of Online Career Skills Courses For Junior Doctors
While medical schools provide education that is essential to helping you to function within a hospital or primary care environment, teaching on essential career skills can sometimes be lacking. Those who are lucky enough to have good mentors throughout their training might have more guidance, but those without can be left behind.
To make up for this, you can purchase any number of online on-demand courses in areas such as:
We cover some of the most popular online career skills courses for doctors below.
Online Mentoring Courses
Why do I need a mentoring course?
As a doctor, your role extends beyond addressing physical ailments in patients. Your juniors will also look towards you in difficult situations dealing with patients and in stressful situations as a whole part and parcel of the job. Even in the absence of adversity, your juniors may come to you for career planning and life advice. And thus, a mentor-mentee relationship will be formed.
Mentoring is not as simple as you might think. A mentor can profoundly impact a mentee’s life; for the better or for the worse, of course, depends on the mentor. With good mentoring, even an average individual can achieve high standards even surpassing his/ her mentor. Hence, all doctors should know the fundamentals of mentoring, as the future trajectory of your mentee potentially lies in your hands.
What will you learn from an online mentoring course?
Mentoring includes the following key components.
- Sharing knowledge and experience
- Career guidance
- Building professional connections
- Confidentiality
- Emotional support
During an online mentoring course, you may study these aspects vital to forming a good mentor-mentee relationship and know exactly what to do the next time a junior comes to you for help.
Financial Literacy Courses
Why is financial literacy important for doctors?
Managing your money is an art and not as easy as you’d think. With your first salary as a doctor, you are bombarded with a wide array of expenses as well, like the NHS pension rules, the 2016 Junior doctor contract, and government taxes. No matter how much you get paid, your savings will quickly dwindle if you don’t know how to manage your earnings properly. That is where these courses come in. By sparing only a few days of your life, you may gain something with a lasting impact on your entire career.
What might you learn by attending a financial literacy course?
These courses may address several key areas important in financial management, including,
Income tax
The government will always try to squeeze out of you as much money you earn as possible. That is why you need to be clever. These courses may teach you what kind of taxes will be imposed on you and legal strategies to minimise your tax liabilities while staying within the bounds of the country’s laws.
Savings and investments
At least some of your earnings should be kept aside for future needs. You may decide to deposit your savings in a savings account or to further explore investment opportunities. Either way, you should understand the available options and how to reap the greatest benefit, which is another reason you should follow a financial literacy course.
Loans and mortgages
Sometimes your salary may not be enough, especially when planning for a change or taking a new step in life. Getting that extra money you are short of is always good, but only with good awareness of potential repercussions. A financial literacy course may also shed some light on managing loans and mortgages.
Credit cards
Credit cards provide you with an opportunity to buy first and pay later. While it looks like an excellent deal, you should also be wary of overspending and debt accumulation risks. These courses might teach you how to play it safe and avoid falling into the trap of overusing your credit card and not making timely payments.
Quality Improvement Courses
Why is quality improvement a must in medicine?
The quality of the services we offer is extremely important in the field of medicine. A doctor should be knowledgeable and up to date with the latest developments and newest guidelines. Many laws and recommendations exist on the expected minimum quality of care that must be maintained to ensure good patient care and patient safety. Only through frequent audits and quality improvement programs can we ensure that the required level of quality can be maintained.
QIPs are also essential to a doctor’s portfolio and CV, giving you an opportunity to make significant changes in your place of work using the experience gained while on rotation. These quality improvement projects also give you the chance to gain points on your speciality application, such as in IMT or CST.
What will you learn in a quality improvement course?
Quality improvement models
Different models like PDSA and Lean Six Sigma are used in quality improvement. These courses may give you a basic understanding of these models serving as an introduction to quality control principles.
Audits and Quality Improvement Programs (QIPs)
Both audits and QIPs are used in quality control. In these courses, you may learn how to implement one of these strategies and the key differences between the two methods.
Measurement, data analysis, and root cause analysis
Several steps are followed in a quality improvement program. It starts with identifying errors in the existing system, then analysing the data to identify the root causes of the problems. These courses may explain how to practically approach a problem and implement a program for quality control.
The ethical aspect of quality control
When implementing new measures, the risk-benefit ratio must be assessed and steps must be taken to ensure that no minimum harm falls upon the patients. The ethical aspect is another side that may be covered in quality improvement courses.
An online quality improvement course will provide you with the initial knowledge for a potential career in medical administration and quality assurance.