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Comparative Study
. 2013 Aug;13(4):330-5.
doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.13-4-330.

Career choices of junior doctors: is the physician an endangered species?

Ella Chaudhuri  1 , Nicola C Mason, Nina Newbery, Andrew F Goddard
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Career choices of junior doctors: is the physician an endangered species?

Ella Chaudhuri et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2013 Aug.

Abstract

There are increasing concerns regarding the recruitment and retention within general medicine. National surveys were conducted among foundation year 2 doctors (FY2), year 1 and year 2 core medical trainees (CT1 and CT2) and medical registrars (StR/ST3+) exploring their enjoyment of medicine, overall satisfaction, career aspirations, influencing factors and perceptions of the medical registrar. The results highlight that many doctors at the FY2, CT1 and CT2 levels are being deterred from general medicine by the perceived unmanageable workload and poor work-life balance of the medical registrar. Medical registrars themselves are less satisfied in general internal medicine than they are in their main specialties. Therefore, priority needs to be placed on clarifying the roles, and improving the morale, of medical registrars. If current trends persist, these will have a significant impact on patient safety, patient care and workforce planning.

Keywords: Training; career choices; medical registrar; physician.

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Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Job satisfaction of medical registrars in (a) main specialty and (b) general internal medicine.
Fig 2.
Fig 2.
Medical registrars’ agreement with the statement ‘I would recommend a career in medicine to a school-leaver’.
Fig 3.
Fig 3.
First- and second-choice specialties of year 2 core medical trainees. GUM = genitourinary medicine.
Fig 4.
Fig 4.
Perceptions of foundation year 2 (FY2), core medical trainee (CMT) and specialist medical registrars (StR) of the workload of registrars. CMT = core medical trainee; FY2 = foundation year 2; GP = general practitioner; ITU = intensive treatment unit; StR = specialist medical registrar.
Fig 5.
Fig 5.
Perceptions of foundation year 2 (FY2), core medical trainee (CMT) and specialist medical registrars (StR) of the work–life balance of registrars. CMT = core medical trainee; FY2 = foundation year 2; GP = general practitioner; ITU = intensive treatment unit; StR = specialist medical registrar.
Fig 6.
Fig 6.
FY2/CT and medical registrars’ perception of enjoyment of registrar work.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Royal College of Physicians , 2013. www.rcpworkforce.com/se.ashx?s=253122AC3FC24E59 [Accessed 3 June 2013].

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