BMJ  2004;329:798 (2 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7469.798-a

Letter

Academic medicine has pitfalls for junior researchers

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—We share Clark and Smith's concerns about the decline of academic medicine.¹ New entrants must be both attracted and retained.² In March 2004 delegates attending a regional meeting of the Society for Academic Primary Care in Bristol were invited to take part in a workshop to discuss the problems facing junior researchers. Twenty four participants identified problems with, and offered some solutions to, issues of supervision, career structure, and funding.

The relationship between supervisor and researcher was seen as important. Conflict may arise when the supervisor is also the "boss" and mentor. Some academic departments have dealt with this by dividing these roles between different people. The relationship between supervisor and researcher may also benefit from clinicians and nonclinicians supervising their own kind.

Employment on short term contracts was thought to hamper project planning and career development seriously. Together with an absence of educational funding and conflicting personal . . . [Full text of this article]

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Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 6JL, m.ridd@bristol.ac.uk

Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 6JL

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