ArticleBMJ open2018
What factors are critical to attracting NHS foundation doctors into specialty or core training? A discrete choice experiment.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- Preferences of health professions learners: a scoping review of the use and role of DCEs in health professions education.Medical education online · 2026Article
- The question of geographic regionalisation of Irish surgical training-a Trauma and Orthopaedic surgical trainee perspective.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Article
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- Incentivising general practice: a review of the Scottish targeted enhanced recruitment scheme (TERS) through recruitment and training data.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Retaining doctors in organisations in socioeconomically deprived areas in England: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Upper gastrointestinal training in the UK and Ireland: a Roux Group Study.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2024Article
- Career intentions of medical students in the UK: a national, cross-sectional study (AIMS study).BMJ open · 2023Article
- Article
- Ascertaining the Career Intentions of Medical Students (AIMS) in the United Kingdom Post Graduation: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- What do Turkish, Spanish, and Pakistani medical students value in specialty training positions? A discrete choice experiment.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Valuing place in doctors' decisions to work in remote and rural locations.Future healthcare journal · 2022Article
- Who cares where the doctors are? The expectation of mobility and its effect on health outcomes.Sociology of health & illness · 2022Article
- What do Iranian physicians value most when choosing a specialty? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2022Article
- Tackling brain drain at Chinese CDCs: understanding job preferences of public health doctoral students using a discrete choice experiment survey.Human resources for health · 2022Article
- Factors affecting the UK junior doctor workforce retention crisis: an integrative review.BMJ open · 2022Review
- Article
- Performance of Queen's University Belfast graduates at core and speciality application.The Ulster medical journal · 2021Article
- "You can't always get what you want…": economic thinking, constrained optimization and health professions education.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2020Article
- The new cultural norm: reasons why UK foundation doctors are choosing not to go straight into speciality training.BMC medical education · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesMultiple personal and work-related factors influence medical trainees' career decision-making. The relative value of these diverse factors is under-researched, yet this intelligence is crucially important for informing medical workforce planning and retention and recruitment policies. Our aim was to investigate the relative value of UK doctors' preferences for different training post characteristics during the time period when they either apply for specialty or core training or take time out.
methodsWe developed a discrete choice experiment (DCE) specifically for this population. The DCE was distributed to all Foundation Programme Year 2 (F2) doctors across Scotland as part of the National Career Destination Survey in June 2016. The main outcome measure was the monetary value of training post characteristics, based on willingness to forgo additional potential income and willingness to accept extra income for a change in each job characteristic calculated from regression coefficients.
results677/798 F2 doctors provided usable DCE responses. Location was the most influential characteristic of a training position, followed closely by supportive culture and then working conditions. F2 doctors would need to be compensated by an additional 45.75% above potential earnings to move from a post in a desirable location to one in an undesirable location. Doctors who applied for a training post placed less value on supportive culture and excellent working conditions than those who did not apply. Male F2s valued location and a supportive culture less than female F2s.
conclusionThis is the first study focusing on the career decision-making of UK doctors at a critical careers decision-making point. Both location and specific job-related attributes are highly valued by F2 doctors when deciding their future. This intelligence can inform workforce policy to focus their efforts in terms of making training posts attractive to this group of doctors to enhance recruitment and retention.
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