1360 Coaching for Transition: Success of a Virtual Group Coaching Course for Paediatric Trainees

Background Coaching is already established as a powerful tool for enhancing executive performance in the corporate sector. There is a growing interest in the role of coaching for the medical workforce. Coaching aims to facilitate behaviour change, through encouraging self-reflection, challenging automatic thoughts and guiding the coachee to identify the actions required to achieve a desired result. Few studies report on the effectiveness of coaching as an intervention, however a recent review has shown weak to moderate evidence that coaching is effective for protecting doctor well-being and resilience. Having previously run a well-received group coaching course for trainee paediatricians returning to work, we were keen to broaden the scope of our course to welcome all trainees approaching transition points in their career and to evaluate their experiences of participation. Objectives This project aims to evaluate the benefits of a virtual group coaching course for trainee paediatricians facing major career transitions. Methods Trainee paediatricians were invited to attend virtual group coaching events running in early 2021. The courses were advertised via the regional school website and its Whatsapp group. 75% of places were open to ‘self-referring’ trainees, whilst 25% of places were reserved for trainees ‘referred’ by local training programme directors. The coaching courses were delivered virtually using zoom software and trainees received a welcome ‘package’ of pre-course information beforehand. The three-hour sessions were designed and delivered by three professional coaches with experience of working in the healthcare sector. Each session comprised some short periods of didactic teaching, interspersed with interactive activities performed as a group or in pairs using break out rooms. Trainees were introduced to the following coaching concepts: Listening Guided reflection Interpersonal dynamics within the workplace Contracting Peer and self-coaching Following completion of the course, trainees were requested to complete an online questionnaire to gain an insight into their experience of the course and its most valued elements. Longer term follow-up on the impact of this course for trainees will be sought in the future. Results 9/14 trainees attending our initial workshop completed our feedback questionnaire. Their baseline data is shown in table 1. Qualitative feedback has shown several themes emerge in relation to skills learned and projected applications for these. Trainees particularly valued skills gained in listening, guided reflection and problem solving. They felt these would be useful to them in providing an alternative approach to difficult problems, to supporting junior colleagues and peers and in career related decision making. Conclusions Virtually delivered group coaching is valued by paediatric trainees approaching career transitions. Trainees attending this course were introduced to skills and concepts in listening, reflection and reframing of difficult problems that they anticipate taking forward through their careers, to help negotiate future challenges. Further feedback will be sought in the coming months pertaining to the real-life impact of trainee participation in this workshop.