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Determining whether senior and specialist registrars choose or reject a career in general adult psychiatry

A survey of factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mark Davies
Affiliation:
Kings Park Community Hospital, Gloucester Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset BH7 6JE
Tom Schlich*
Affiliation:
Royal South Hants Hospital, Brintons Terrace, Southampton SO14 0YG
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and method

Following concerns over recruitment into general adult psychiatry, this study was undertaken to determine which factors influence senior trainees in psychiatry with regard to whether or not they choose a career in general adult psychiatry. The method used was by postal survey of all senior and specialist registrars in the UK.

Results

Of those responding, 32.6% had chosen a career in general adult psychiatry, while 38.9% had actively rejected such a career. Twenty-six per cent of respondents had chosen another speciality without actively rejecting general adult psychiatry. For those actively rejecting general adult psychiatry, the top three factors cited were poor resources (57.6%), high workload (43.2%) and poor working conditions (30.7%).

Clinical implications

Through an awareness of why senior trainees reject general adult psychiatry as a possible career, resources can be targeted more specifically in the future at the factors responsible, and thereby improve recruitment into this speciality.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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