| Medical graduates' early career choices of specialty and their eventual specialty destinations: UK prospective cohort studies. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 20605892 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
OBJECTIVE: To report on doctors' early choices of specialty at selected intervals after qualification, and eventual career destinations. DESIGN: Questionnaire surveys. SETTING: United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 15 759 doctors who qualified in 1974, 1977, 1983, 1993, and 1996, and their career destinations 10 years after graduation. RESULTS: 15 759 doctors were surveyed one and three years after graduation and 12 108 five years after graduation. Career preferences at years 1, 3, and 5, and destinations at 10 years, were known for, respectively, 64% (n=10 154), 62% (n=9702), and 61% (n=7429) of the survey population. In the 1993 and 1996 cohorts, career destinations matched with year 1 choices for 54% (1890/3508) of doctors in year 1, 70% (2494/3579) in year 3, and 83% (2916/3524) in year 5. Corresponding results for the earlier cohorts (1974-83) were similar: 53% (3310/6264), 74% (4233/5752), and 82% (2976/3646). The match rates varied by specialty; for example, the rates were consistently high for surgery. Career destinations matched with year 1 choices for 74% (722/982) of doctors who specified a definite (rather than probable or uncertain) specialty choice in their first postgraduate year. About half of those who chose a hospital specialty but did not eventually work in it were working in general practice by year 10. CONCLUSIONS: Ten years after qualification about a quarter of doctors were working in a specialty that was different from the one chosen in their third year after graduation. This stayed reasonably constant across graduation cohorts despite the changes in training programmes over time. Subject to the availability of training posts, postgraduate training should permit those who have made early, definite choices to progress quickly into their chosen specialty, while recognising the need for flexibility for those who choose later. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Michael J Goldacre; L Laxton; T W Lambert |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2010-07-06 |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: BMJ (Clinical research ed.) Volume: 341 ISSN: 1756-1833 ISO Abbreviation: BMJ Publication Date: 2010 |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2010-07-07 Completed Date: 2010-07-19 Revised Date: 2012-03-06 |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 8900488 Medline TA: BMJ Country: England |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: c3199 Citation Subset: AIM; IM |
Affiliation:
|
UK Medical Careers Research Group, Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF. michael.goldacre@dphpc.ox.ac.uk |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Career Choice* Career Mobility Female Great Britain Humans Male Medical Staff, Hospital / psychology Medicine / statistics & numerical data* Prospective Studies Specialization / statistics & numerical data* Time Factors |
| Grant Support | |
ID/Acronym/Agency:
|
//Department of Health |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment In:
|
BMJ. 2010;341:c3500
[PMID:
20605893
]
|
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Strategies to prevent suicide.
Next Document: The Arabidopsis plastid-signalling mutant gun1 (genomes uncoupled1) shows altered sensitivity to suc...