going back to the original question... you used the word "core".
i don't think it is necessarily the most appropriate environment for students to learn their core or basic respiratory undergraduate requirements. even for some new graduates, i feel the same way.

when students come to do a "respiratory" placement at my hospital, we tell them in advance that they will spend some time on med/surg wards, in pulmonary rehab, with the community respiratory service, in cf and in critical care (itu/hdu). that said, we deliberately leave things open, making decisions on where they will spend time based upon the placements they have done previously (some arrive with previous resp experience, others no wards experience whatsoever) and how they perform in their first week. we warn them that we may change things around and most are quite accepting of this because they feel it is done with their best interests in mind. i find the majority of students want to get up to scratch on the basics and anything else that is done is a bonus.


fiona i am also wary of making itu seem elitist. it should not have that attachment at all for it will not rub off on colleagues in other areas and will unnecessarily instill fear into the minds of students and new graduates. i find even with this attitude, several new grads find it intimidating, especially when preparing them for on-call. they are thrust back into student mode because you have to test them in some way to know they are capable and safe.

i agree also that supervised student time is the way to go. even for those students whom i think are not quite ready to really push forward into learning in the critical care environment, i nevertheless expose them as much as time allows and get them participating to make them feel more comfortable, even though i won't necessarily assess them in this area as i do with others.