A systematic review of interventions aiming to improve newly-qualified doctors’ wellbeing in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Background

Newly-qualified doctors in the United Kingdom experience a great deal of stress and have poor wellbeing when compared to more senior counterparts. A number of interventions have been put in place to boost healthcare professionals’ wellbeing, but little is known about interventions aimed to improve the wellbeing of newly-qualified doctors in the United Kingdom. This study aims to systematically review current evidence of interventions which improved the wellbeing of newly-qualified junior doctors in the United Kingdom.

Methods

Five key electronic databases were searched. Subsequently, reference scanning and citation search was performed. Studies were included if they were conducted from the commencement of the Foundation Programme in 2004, until 2019. In addition, studies had to be performed on junior doctors: working in the United Kingdom and within their first five years post-qualification and have a quantitative outcome. Studies which did not meet these criteria were excluded. Quality was assessed using the modified Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Bias was not formally assessed using a standardised tool.

Results

Seven papers met the inclusion criteria and identified three main types of interventions: mentorship, mindfulness and clinical preparation interventions. The majority of included studies reported a positive result from the performed intervention, suggesting these to be beneficial in improving junior doctor wellbeing, and thereby reducing anxiety and stress levels. However, most of the studies used small sample sizes.

Conclusions

This review reveals that there is dearth of evidence on the effectiveness of intervention to improve the wellbeing of newly-qualified doctors in the United Kingdom. Most of the identified interventions focused on relieving stress and anxiety inherent within newly-qualified doctors’ training programmes. However, wellbeing interventions need to take into cognisance all the factors which impact on wellbeing, particularly job-related factors. We recommend that future researchers implement large-scale holistic interventions using appropriate research methods.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42019127341.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-022-00868-8.