BMA cohort study of 1995 medical graduates : fifth report
March 2000
Summary
- The BMA cohort study of 1995 medical graduates is a ten-year longitudinal study of the careers of 545 doctors. This is the 5th annual report and provides information on workforce participation, career choice and views about practising medicine.
- At this stage many of the doctors are looking for a National Training Number that will allow them to progress to the SpR grade. It is clear that in many specialties there are more candidates than available numbers.
- Frustrated with this ‘bottleneck’ in the career structure doctors are turning to general practice as their preferred career choice. Doctors are also changing to general practice in order to find a better working environment and a reduction in out of hours commitment.
- Currently 31% of the cohort have chosen general practice as their preferred career choice.
- The proportion of the cohort planning to become GPs is significantly higher than at graduation (18%). Nonetheless general practice remains under-subscribed relative to the needs of the workforce.
- 70% of doctors currently planning to enter general practice are female, compared to 18% of doctors planning to enter surgery.
- 20% of the cohort were absent from the workforce for all or part of the preceding 12 months. 7% had worked overseas; 3% had travelled overseas; 9% had taken time-out for other reasons, such as study, child care, or prolonged illness; and 1.6% reported that they were no longer pursuing a career in medicine.
- Spending a year or two working overseas has always been a popular choice among this cohort of doctors and there is no sign that this is waning. 45% of the cohort still intend to spend some time working overseas in the future.
- 3% of the cohort are currently working less than full-time (4 men, 11 women). An additional 38% (36 men, 148 women) were considering working less than full-time in the future.
- 67% of the cohort currently consider themselves to have a strong or very strong desire to practise medicine (compared to 85% at graduation). Factors influencing a positive view of practising medicine included well-structured training, support from seniors and reasonable working hours.
- Doctors who felt a lukewarm or weak desire to practise medicine, or who regretted becoming doctors, cited poor pay for long and unsocial hours and pay that did not recognise the intensity of work; posts that contained no training; concerns about career progression, competition for SpR posts and difficulty in passing exams; interference with personal life, especially family commitments; lack of respect and feeling undervalued; and the effects of exhaustion on themselves and on their ability to make clinical decisions.