Does access to role models influence future career choice? Impact of psychiatry teaching on recently graduated doctors in the United Kingdom

摘要

Objective: The authors determined who provides formal psychiatry teaching to newly-qualified doctors and whether the amount of such teaching correlates to a later career preference for psychiatry. Methods: Data were collected on the cohort starting work in 2010 until applying to a specialty training program 16 months later. Total hours of psychiatry teaching was compared with the number choosing a residency in the same specialty. Results: A total of 19 hospitals in northwest England provided teaching programs for their interns and first-year residents (U.K. foundation doctors); 15 provided information on doctors' later specialty choice. Only 2.3% of teaching was dedicated to psychiatry. Doctors led a higher proportion of medicine or surgery sessions (63%) than those on psychiatry (48%). Provision of psychiatry teaching was associated with entering psychiatry residency. Conclusions: Hospitals providing the most formal psychiatry training have the highest proportions matriculating into a psychiatry residency.