Medicine has become far more complicated today. Doctors are expected to perform at very high levels of skill and consistency, in order to meet increasing patient expectations, and to stand up to scrutiny amongst their colleagues. Even as the learning curve sharpens, time for training has not and is unlikely to increase correspondingly. There are so many demands on a doctor's time, and only so much time each day. But the methods of delivering training can differ, and can be changed to suit different learning needs, as well as speed up the process of acquiring complex skills.

There are so many training methods available nowadays - induction, coaching and mentoring, e-learning, project work, journal presentations, workshops and seminars, job-shadowing; these are just some of the more common methods encountered in our profession, and they are there to suit the needs of different trainees. Some trainees learn more effectively in a group, some learn alone, some desire to explore, review and question; still others wish to be shown the time-tested path - acquiring skills and knowledge through apprenticeship.

Joint Committee on Specialist Training in collaboration with MOH has produced PG Bytes- a quarterly newsletter that provides Specialist Trainees with the latest news on specialist training matters such as the Traineeship Survey 2006, the AST Course on Medical Ethics, Health Law and Professionalism and the launch of the Health Professionals Portal Phase II.