Dataset Information

A survey to determine the potential impact of foundation year career aims on surgical specialty training.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The competition for Core Surgical Training (CST) positions and subsequent Surgical Specialty Training (ST3) posts throughout the UK is fierce. Our aim was to conduct a pilot study to assess whether current foundation year doctors were considering pursuing a career in surgery and the reasons guiding their decisions.

Methods

A ten-item questionnaire was voluntarily completed by foundation doctors at a large acute teaching trust. Factors evaluated included: experience working within a surgical rotation; previous consideration of a career in surgery; whether they found a career in surgery appealing; reasons guiding their decision and would they be applying to CST.

Results

All 67 foundation doctors approached agreed to participate: of which 56 (83.6%) had experience working within a surgical rotation. Males were significantly more likely to find a career in surgery appealing (p < 0.001). Although 20 (29.9%) had previously considered a surgical career, only 11 (16.4%) would be applying to CST. Reasons for finding a career in surgery appealing included: job satisfaction (84.2%), diversity of work (79.0%) and working environment/colleagues (47.4%). Of those that did not consider a career in surgery to be appealing, reasons included: working hours (75.0%), work/life balance (62.5%), working environment/colleagues (50%).

Discussion and conclusion

Although only a small proportion of current foundation doctors were surveyed in our study, only 16.4% were considering applying for CST. These figures are lower than previously suggested and would indicate that there will be fewer applicants for CST in future years, which may potentially reduce the current bottleneck of applicants at ST3.

SUBMITTER: Patel RK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4268480 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A survey to determine the potential impact of foundation year career aims on surgical specialty training.

Patel Rikesh Kumar RK Sayers Adele Elizabeth AE Akbar Muhammad Jawaid MJ Hunter Iain Andrew IA

Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) 20131228 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>The competition for Core Surgical Training (CST) positions and subsequent Surgical Specialty Training (ST3) posts throughout the UK is fierce. Our aim was to conduct a pilot study to assess whether current foundation year doctors were considering pursuing a career in surgery and the reasons guiding their decisions.<h4>Methods</h4>A ten-item questionnaire was voluntarily completed by foundation doctors at a large acute teaching trust. Factors evaluated included: experience wo ...[more]

PMID: 25568777

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Project description:Question: Endoscopy is an integral part of surgical gynaecology and is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring adequate gynaecological training in the context of specialty training in general. At present, little is known about the expectations and notions of young junior doctors with respect to endoscopic training. For this reason, junior doctors throughout Germany were surveyed on this topic and asked to share their opinions. Methods: Using an anonymized standardized survey, the following information was elicited: importance of endoscopic training, willingness to take courses, expectations for instructors and the hospital, ideas about the number of required operations, both as a surgical assistant and as a surgeon, as well as satisfaction with the current status of training. The questionnaires were sent via the Young Forum (Junges Forum) of the German Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (DGGG) and the newsletter of the Working Group for Gynaecological Endoscopy (AGE). Results: The evaluation of the study was based on 109 completed questionnaires. The resident junior doctors were 31 years old on average and were in their third to fourth year of their specialty training on average. The majority of the participants (87?%) considered the learning of endoscopic techniques to be very important and advocated regular participation in endoscopy training courses. Among the participants, 48?% were prepared to invest up to €1500 of their own funds to attend courses up to twice a year during the entire specialty training period. The expectations of the instructors and institutions focused on technical expertise, the willingness and time for teaching and on the number and range of surgical procedures, followed by being granted leave for the courses and having costs covered for the courses. Thirty-eight per cent stated that their expectations had been completely or mostly met and 62?% said they had been met in part or inadequately. Eighty-three per cent of the respondents reported that they would change specialty training institutions in order to achieve their own goals in the context of specialty training. Conclusions: This study presents data for the first time on the satisfaction of young junior doctors and their expectations for endoscopic specialty training. The residents exhibited a high level of interest in endoscopy and a high level of willingness to actively shape the specialty training, including course participation. However, there appears to be a great deal of room for improvement for endoscopic specialty training, independent of the current training institution, training year or sex of the junior doctors.

Project description:BackgroundClinician-educator (CE) careers in academic medicine are heterogeneous. Expectations for CEs have grown, along with a need to better prepare CEs for these roles.ObjectiveTo assess whether advanced education training is associated with productivity and success.DesignWe used a sequential mixed methods approach, collecting quantitative survey data and qualitative focus groups data. We developed a three-tiered categorization of advanced training to reflect intensity by program type.ParticipantsWe surveyed CEs in the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and conducted two focus groups at an SGIM annual meeting.Main measuresPrimary outcomes were academic productivity (manuscripts, presentations, etc.) and leadership role attainment. Secondary analysis examined the interactive effect of gender and training intensity on these outcomes.Key resultsA total of 198 completed the survey (response rate 53%). Compared with medium- or low-intensity training, high-intensity training was associated with a greater likelihood of publishing ≥ 3 first- or senior-author manuscripts (adjusted OR 2.6; CI 0.8-8.6; p = 0.002), teaching ≥ 3 lectures/workshops at the regional/national/international level (adjusted OR 5.7; CI 1.5-21.3; p = 0.001), and having ≥ 3 regional/national committee memberships (adjusted OR 3.4; CI 1.0-11.7; p = 0.04). Among participants in the "no training" and "high-intensity training" categories, men were more likely to have ≥ 3 publications (OR 4.87 and 3.17, respectively), while women in the high intensity category had a likelihood similar to men with no training (OR 4.81 vs. OR 4.87). Participants felt the value of advanced training exists not only in content but also in networking opportunities that programs provide.ConclusionsWhile opinions were divided as to whether advanced training is necessary to position oneself for education roles, it is associated with greater academic productivity and reduced gender disparity in the publication domain. Institutions should consider providing opportunities for CEs to pursue advanced education training.

Dataset Information

A survey to determine the potential impact of foundation year career aims on surgical specialty training.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion and conclusion

Publications

A survey to determine the potential impact of foundation year career aims on surgical specialty training.

Similar Datasets

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