About us

Superego Cafe began as a website for psychiatrists in 2000. At the time there were hardly any online resources for doctors revising for the MRCPsych exams of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dr Gurpal Singh Gosall, then a trainee psychiatrist in Leeds, set up a simple website to provide information and support to his peers. After the MRCPsych discussion board launched in 2001, page views grew exponentially month after month and Superego Cafe rapidly became the most popular website for trainee psychiatrists. It was reviewed favourably by the British Medical Journal and Hospital Doctor magazine, amongst others.

In 2004 Superego Cafe started running MRCPsych courses for trainee psychiatrists. The use of innovative teaching techniques, digital handset technology to score and rank delegates, and a genuine desire to help trainees succeed differentiated Superego Cafe from the competition. Over the following years, while other websites and companies came and went, Superego Cafe went from strength to strength.

In 2005 Superego Cafe started offering training in critical appraisal skills to all healthcare professionals. The unique back-to-basics approach and a new method of teaching, which didn't rely on checklists, was an immediate hit. As demand for courses soared, the criticalappraisal.com website was launched with the first multimedia online course on critical appraisal skills. In 2006 two members of the Superego Cafe team published the first edition of 'The Doctor's Guide to Critical Appraisal' (PastTest 2006), a book based on the Superego Cafe course materials. The book was like a breath of fresh air for readers confused by other texts. The book was reprinted twice and a second edition followed in 2009.

News about the high quality of Superego Cafe training events spread fast and Superego Cafe started providing bespoke training options for healthcare organisations and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Critical appraisal and psychiatry training events started on a regular basis in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Ireland.

In 2010 Superego Cafe celebrated its 10th anniversary year. As well as looking forward to future developments, it was also a time to reflect on the values that had made Superego Cafe successful. The drive to provide high quality, innovative and value-for-money training courses remains undiminished!