The South Australian Trainee Medical Officer Survey (SATMOS) Working Group was established as a result of the SA MET Health Advisory Council’s (the Advisory Council) endorsement to progress the implementation of a state-wide survey.
After receiving feedback from the Trainee Medical Officers (TMO) groups the SATMOS Working Group decided to concentrate efforts to standardise and introduce an end-of-term survey that would address all South Australian Local Health Networks, TMOs and the SA MET Units needs into one survey. This reduces the number of surveys TMOs are asked to fill in, ensures consistency across Local Health Networks and all the criteria within the Accreditation Standards are addressed.
Stakeholder consultation included Medical Education Officers (MEO), Directors of Clinical Training (DCT), Executive Directors of Medical Services (EDMS), TMOs and interstate counter-parts. Concerns relevant to the various groups were identified.
Following the implementation of the SATMOS, all LHNs were invited to trial the survey, those that participated and use the SATMOS were asked to provide feedback and the SA MET Unit undertook an evaluation based on feedback from key stakeholders.
Whilst the impact of the survey has been predominantly positive, some negative outcomes were evident, as follows:
- Completion rates remain low. Local Health Networks reported that they receive higher completion rates when TMOs are asked to complete paper based surveys.
- Although key stakeholders thought that all questions were relevant and appropriate, TMOs were discouraged by the length of the survey.
Based on this feedback, members of the Advisory Council requested the length of the survey to be reduced to achieve higher completion rates. In addition, the Chief Executive of SA Health has requested some industrial related questions to be added regarding meal breaks and paid un-rostered overtime.
The SA MET Unit has updated the SATMOS questions and consulted with various stakeholders regarding the updated survey, including the Accreditation Committee, MEO Committee, DCT Committee and the Doctors in Training Committee.
The updated SATMOS is now available to use and the Advisory Council encourages all Local Health Networks to use the survey, noting that using the SATMOS can reduce the amount accreditation related surveys the Local Health Networks are required to conduct at the request of the SA MET Unit.
