Selecting staff for a personality disorder service: report from the field (Lee, Blackburn, Bishop, Ragiadakos, 2018)
Tennyson Lee, Claire Ellingford, Samantha Blackburn, Elizabeth Bishop, Nikolas Ragiadakos, Patricia Elcock, Kamaldeep Bhui
BJPsych Bulletin, 41(1): 12-17. DOI: 10.1192/pb.bp.115.052456. PMID: 28184311; PMCID: PMC5288087.
Aims and Method
To select staff for a personality disorder service by exposing applicants to anticipated challenges. Applicants took part in a role play, an unstructured group with fellow applicants and numbers of the interviewing panel, and a panel interview. A service user representative was involved from the initial planning stage.
Results
Multiple assessment methods enabled fine discrimination between applicants. Appointed staff said they felt the interviews were a valid test of required skills and have been well regarded by patients in the programme.
Clinical implications
Selecting staff for a personality disorder service benefits from using multiple interview methods. The service user representative and role-play actor can contribute crucially by representing the patient's perspective. Key domains to assess include the applicant's psychological qualities, psychiatric skills and ability to work in a team.