ArticleBMC medical education2009
Specialty choice in UK junior doctors: is psychiatry the least popular specialty for UK and international medical graduates?
Article in BMC medical education, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- [Medical students' attitude towards electroconvulsive therapy: Impact of patient-oriented training].Der Nervenarzt · 2015Trial
- National trends and territorial disparities in psychiatry residency fill rates in France: a longitudinal panel study, 2016-2026.Health policy OPEN · 2026Article
- The Golden Ticket? Widening Access in UK Medicine and the Making of an Emotional Proletariat.Sociology of health & illness · 2025Article
- What really makes residents tick or burn out? Insights from a National survey.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Specialty preferences of studying-abroad medical students from low- and middle-income countries.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Attracting the next generation of radiologists: a statement by the European Society of Radiology (ESR).Insights into imaging · 2022Article
- International medical graduates: how can UK psychiatry do better?BJPsych bulletin · 2021Article
- Migrant physicians' choice of employment and the medical specialty general practice: a mixed-methods study.Human resources for health · 2021Article
- Burnout in consultants in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Ireland: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Systematic review into factors associated with the recruitment crisis in psychiatry in the UK: students', trainees' and consultants' views.BJPsych bulletin · 2017Review
- Article
- WPA Position Statement on Recruitment in Psychiatry.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2017Article
- A social paradigm in psychiatry - themes and perspectives.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2016Article
- Predictors of career progression and obstacles and opportunities for non-EU hospital doctors to undertake postgraduate training in Ireland.Human resources for health · 2016Article
- Factors affecting recruitment into psychiatry: a canadian experience.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2015Article
- The specialty choices of graduates from Brighton and Sussex Medical School: a longitudinal cohort study.BMC medical education · 2015Article
- Public mental health: science or politics?World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2015Article
- A survey of factors influencing career preference in new-entrant and exiting medical students from four UK medical schools.BMC medical education · 2014Article
- Choice and rejection of psychiatry as a career: surveys of UK medical graduates from 1974 to 2009.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2013Article
- Survey of UK radiology trainees in the aftermath of 'Modernising Medical Careers'.BMC medical education · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the UK and many other countries, many specialties have had longstanding problems with recruitment and have increasingly relied on international medical graduates to fill junior and senior posts. We aimed to determine what specialties were the most popular and desirable among candidates for training posts, and whether this differed by country of undergraduate training.
methodsWe conducted a database analysis of applications to Modernising Medical Careers for all training posts in England in 2008. Total number of applications (as an index of popularity) and applications per vacancy (as an index of desirability) were analysed for ten different specialties. We tested whether mean consultant incomes correlated with specialty choice.
resultsIn, 2008, there were 80,949 applications for specialty training in England, of which 31,434 were UK graduates (39%). Among UK medical graduates, psychiatry was the sixth most popular specialty (999 applicants) out of 10 specialty groups, while it was fourth for international graduates (5,953 applicants). Among UK graduates, surgery (9.4 applicants per vacancy) and radiology (8.0) had the highest number of applicants per vacancy and paediatrics (1.2) and psychiatry (1.1) the lowest. Among international medical graduates, psychiatry had the fourth highest number of applicants per place (6.3). Specialty popularity for UK graduates was correlated with predicted income (p = 0.006).
conclusionBased on the number of applicants per place, there was some consistency in the most popular specialties for both UK and international medical graduates, but there were differences in the popularity of psychiatry. With anticipated decreases in the number of new international medical graduates training in the UK, university departments and professional associations may need to review strategies to attract more UK medical graduates into certain specialties, particularly psychiatry and paediatrics.
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