Abstract
Aims and method This questionnaire study aimed to investigate the reasons for choosing to specialise in psychiatry in a sample of consultant psychiatrists and core trainee psychiatrists from within the West Midlands.Results Five reasons were significantly different between the core trainees and consultant psychiatrists. ‘Emphasis on the patient as a whole’ was identified as the most important reason for choosing to specialise for both core trainees and consultants. Six additional reasons were shared within the top ten ‘very important’ reasons, although their actual ranking varies.Clinical implications Some of the reasons for choosing to specialise in psychiatry were shown to significantly differ between core trainees and consultants. Numerous key driving factors have remained important over time for both groups, whereas other reasons have been replaced with a shift of importance towards lifestyle and humanitarian factors for core trainees. Consequently, it may be advisable not to use the reasons that consultants gave for choosing psychiatry when thinking about how to attract today's prospective psychiatrists.
Highlights
The response rate for this study was over 40% for both core trainees and consultant psychiatrists
The sample population (Table 1) was similar to the UK psychiatrist population in terms of gender and subspecialty when compared with the 2013 Royal College of Psychiatrists’ census,[1] and it is likely to be representative of UK psychiatrists as a whole
This study highlights a shift over the years concerning the stage at which the decision to choose to specialise in psychiatry is made
Summary
Five reasons were significantly different between the core trainees and consultant psychiatrists. Numerous studies have considered factors associated with choosing to specialise in psychiatry - the majority have been carried out on prospective medical students,[4] current medical students[5,6,7] and medical graduates.[8] Interestingly, studies carried out on practising psychiatrists remain few. 5 papers, only 2 studies were conducted in the UK.[9,10] This means that researchers have been neglecting to utilise the strong pull factors identified within the population who dedicated their careers to psychiatry Both these studies collected data from and reported solely on consultant psychiatrists who on average had 21 years of experience in psychiatry.[9] Considering the rapid advances in the practice of medicine and the changes in the employment environment it is questionable whether these factors, influential 21 years ago, are relevant to today’s graduates. A study comparing reasons for specialising in psychiatry between core trainees and consultant psychiatrists is required to better inform researchers on the relevance of using consultant psychiatrists in such studies and to identify current motives for choosing to specialise in psychiatry to aid future recruitment strategies
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