BMJ  2008;336:1034 (10 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39563.591481.80

Letters

Selecting medical students

Beware of self selection and self fulfilling prophecy

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

Because the BMJ is mostly read by clinicians, we should be aware of the risk of self selection.¹ Just as companies can develop an internal culture, whereby only similar personality types are recruited, so the same happens with doctors. We select only those with high academic results, we train them to be problem focused, and, not surprisingly, they tend to select similar people. There is a danger in simply selecting what you already have, as it may not be what you need.

Historically, doctors needed good memories—they will probably continue to do so, but because medical knowledge has outstripped our ability to remember it all, we may do better with someone who is adept at using computer based tools.

We select people who relish solving problems and train them in high stress situations, so we select those who get a buzz out of "winging it." This may explain why medical . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ University College, London N19 5LW

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