Dissemination of the work of public health medicine trainees inpeer-reviewed publications: an unfulfilled potential

Objective: ess the extent to which work undertaken during training in public health medicine was formally disseminated in peer-reviewed publications. g: lish Health Region. s: al questionnaire survey of former and current senior trainees. s: sponse rate was 75% (38/51). Thirty per cent (11/37) had no publications arising from any workundertaken during training and specifically 49% (18/37) had no publications arising from submissions made for the Part II examination for Membership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Major perceived barriers to publication were: lack of priority accorded to publication by the training department; lack of time and lack of a supervisor or mentor to facilitate preparation of material. sions: ming these perceived barriers will require action at trainee, trainer and organisationallevel. Skills training in writing could be included in academic courses and publication could be identified as a training goal for appropriate pieces of work. Health authorities could be more active in encouraging publication of work undertaken by trainees on their behalf.