ArticleBMJ open2023
Exploring reasons behind UK doctors leaving the medical profession: a series of qualitative interviews with former UK doctors.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding why health professionals are leaving the UK national health service (NHS) - A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Journal of health services research & policy · 2026Pooled it
- Quality in postgraduate medical education: A contested idea.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2026Review
- Why orthopaedics and trauma surgery loses part of its future workforce - a cross-sectional study of gender differences in medical students' specialty choice.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Examining wage drivers for nurses and physicians in Swiss hospitals: a retrospective observational study with repeated measurements.BMC health services research · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe retention of doctors is an important issue for the National Health Service; yet evidence suggests that the proportion of doctors wanting to leave UK medicine is increasing. Some of these doctors chose to continue their medical careers in other countries, however, some decided to leave the profession entirely.
objectivesThis was the first study to interview a cohort of UK doctors who have left the medical profession to embark on alternative careers. Participants were asked about the reasoning behind their decision to leave medicine.
designQualitative study using one-to-one, semi-structured virtual interviews.
participants17 participants, recruited via purposive sampling.
settingZoom interviews with 17 former UK doctors who had left medicine to pursue alternative careers were conducted between February and July 2021.
findingsData were analysed using thematic analysis and the theory of work adjustment was applied to findings. The most frequently discussed reasons for leaving were associated with factors preventing participants from providing a desired level of patient care, work-life balance, a lack of support, a lack of control over working lives and the pull of alternative careers. While reasons for leaving varied between participants, all participants reported greater satisfaction in their new careers.
conclusionNew careers were able to address many of the issues that caused participants to leave UK medicine. Consequently, it is important that some of the key issues raised in this study are addressed to retain more doctors in the UK medical workforce.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.