Views of UK doctors in training on the timing of choosing a clinical specialty: quantitative and qualitative analysis of surveys 3 years after graduation
| Autor: | Trevor W Lambert, Shelly Lachish, Michael J Goldacre |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Time Factors
medical workforce 020205 medical informatics Attitude of Health Personnel Specialty 02 engineering and technology 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Qualitative analysis Physicians 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Text messaging Humans Medicine 030212 general & internal medicine Career decision Qualitative Research Medical education Career Choice business.industry physicians junior Flexibility (personality) General Medicine Future career United Kingdom Education Medical Graduate Workforce Original Article business medical education & training Specialization Graduation |
| Zdroj: | Postgraduate Medical Journal |
| Popis: | Background Workforce studies show a declining proportion of UK junior doctors proceeding directly to specialist training, with many taking career breaks. Doctors may be choosing to delay this important career decision. Aim To assess doctors’ views on the timing of choosing a clinical specialty. Methods Surveys of two cohorts of UK-trained doctors 3 years after qualification, in 2011 and 2015. Results Presented with the statement ‘I had to choose my career specialty too soon after qualification’, 61% agreed (27% strongly) and 22% disagreed (3% strongly disagreed). Doctors least certain about their choice of specialty were most likely to agree (81%), compared with those who were more confident (72%) or were definite regarding their choice of long-term specialty (54%). Doctors not in higher specialist training were more likely to agree with this statement than those who were (72% vs 59%). Graduate medical school entrants (ie, those who had completed prior degrees) were less likely to agree than non-graduates (56% vs 62%). Qualitative analysis of free text comments identified three themes as reasons why doctors felt rushed into choosing their future career: insufficient exposure to a wide range of specialties; a desire for a greater breadth of experience of medicine in general; and inadequate career advice. Conclusions Most UK-trained doctors feel rushed into choosing their long-term career specialty. Doctors find this difficult because they lack sufficient medical experience and adequate career advice to make sound choices. Workforce trainers and planners should enable greater flexibility in training pathways and should further improve existing career guidance. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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