Academic medicine: who is it for?: Academic physicians are affected by specific failures of postgraduate training

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.363-b

BMJ 2005;330:363 (12 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.363-b

Letter

Academic medicine: who is it for?

Academic physicians are affected by specific failures of postgraduate training

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

EDITOR—Dobson in his news article on continental doctorstaking up top posts in UK heart medicine and surgery describesan important but not surprising situation.^1
2 The refusal ofthe postgraduate training system to train more than a few cardiologistsin the 90s has had serious repercussions for the provision ofcardiac care in the United Kingdom. Nine years ago when I movedto the United States, one of seven or eight major teaching hospitalsin Boston had more consultant cardiologists than in the wholeof Scotland. It could be argued that the greatest need justnow is to get clinical cardiologists and surgeons into postas soon as possible. This will obviously reduce the flow intothe academia, compounded by the incentive of gold.

In addition the UK specialist training system remains rigidand perverse. New specialties such as my own, medical informatics,struggle to take hold in . . . [Full text of this article]

Hamish S Fraser, academic physician

Brigham and Womens Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA hamish_fraser@hms.harvard.edu