Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The healthcare needs of the global population are changing, leaving many medical specialties facing ballooning demand in the context of under-filled specialty training programmes. In this paper we draw on a synthesis of existing literature and our experiences of developing a series of initiatives to tackle the challenge of recruitment to specialty training in geriatric medicine in the UK. We propose a set of strategies that can contribute to the development and success of such initiatives and commend these to healthcare professionals, both junior and senior, who are working in so-called 'shortage' specialities facing recruitment challenges. A common theme throughout the twelve tips is the need to empower trainees to deliver such initiatives. Trainees' unique insight into training programmes, coupled with their burgeoning enthusiasm for their chosen specialty, ought to be harnessed, as it offers a ripe source of potential ideas and solutions to tackle recruitment problems.
Highlights
Junior doctors working in 21st century healthcare systems have a greater choice of potential career pathways than ever before, with the Association of American Medical Colleges recognising 120 distinct specialties and subspecialties [1]
With reference to geriatric medicine, we identified some deterrents that were beyond our locus of control; for example, the limited amount of dedicated time spent at medical undergraduate level addressing geriatric medicine topics [10]
Positive role-modelling is recognised as an important factor underpinning why current UK geriatric medicine trainees chose a career in the specialty [17]
Summary
Junior doctors working in 21st century healthcare systems have a greater choice of potential career pathways than ever before, with the Association of American Medical Colleges recognising 120 distinct specialties and subspecialties [1]. Against this backdrop, in 2012, a group of UK trainees in geriatric medicine began to develop a series of educational initiatives for junior doctors caring for older people. On our own experiences with AEME, we propose a set of strategies that can contribute to the development and success of such initiatives We commend these strategies to healthcare professionals, both junior and senior, who are working in so-called ‘shortage’ specialities that face similar recruitment challenges. It was this issue that we set out to tackle
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