ArticleBMJ open2024
Transition experiences of UK junior doctors who leave clinical practice to pursue careers in medical education: a qualitative study.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Quality in postgraduate medical education: A contested idea.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2026Review
- A programme of faculty development in medical education for junior doctors: The start of a journey to clinical educator.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe increasing complexity and scale of medical education in the UK demands increasing numbers of medical educators. A small proportion of educators are qualified doctors, but did not reach completion of clinical training (CCT) to become consultants or general practitioners before pursuing a career exclusively in education. This study aimed to (1) explore the experiences of medical educators who left clinical practice as junior doctors and (2) identify the barriers to professional identity formation in this group.
designIn this constructivist qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical educators. Audio data was recorded, transcribed and iteratively interpreted through the lens of reflexive thematic analysis. SETTING AND
participantsNine UK-based educators were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. Participants self-identified as medical educators who have experience of the transition from working as junior clinicians to holding positions exclusively in medical education. Participants had not completed clinical training before transitioning into medical education.
resultsThree broad themes were identified: (1) push factors away from clinical medicine; (2) pull factors towards medical education; (3) navigating professional identity formation as an educator. Educators reported that medical education offered positives such as improved work-life balance, professional development opportunities and a sense of being more 'upstream' in the world of education. Significant barriers to successful transition were reported, including: a lack of guidance; low respect for medical education by the wider medical profession; and disparity between the educational opportunities afforded to consultant colleagues compared with educators who left medicine before CCT.
conclusionsEducators who leave clinical medicine before CCT perceive themselves as being disadvantaged in their education careers. This study highlights that more could be done to tackle stigmatising perceptions of a medical education career and present medical education as a viable option to junior doctors.
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