Five things we have learnt about doctors’ careers
BMJ 2016; 355 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5365 (Published 11 October 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i5365
Working abroad
Nine years after graduation, 42% of the doctors said that they planned to practise medicine overseas, up from 37% in 2014. Male doctors were more likely to want to work overseas, but the proportion of women who said they planned to work abroad rose to 34% in 2015, from 30% in 2014.
Attitudes to work
A fifth (22%) of respondents said that they had a very strong desire to practice medicine, while 45% had a strong desire, and 25% had a lukewarm desire. Just under 5% of doctors said they had a weak desire to practise medicine and 3% regretted becoming a doctor.
Career expectations
Just under half (42%) of respondents said that their current experience as a doctor was worse than they expected when they graduated, while 17% indicated that it was better than expected. Around three quarters of doctors said that they remained happy with their choice of specialty, while a fifth said that their experience in the past year had changed their career intentions.
Work-life balance
Doctors viewed their work-life balance somewhat negatively, with 33% rating it low or very low and 20% rating it high or very high. When asked to compare their current work-life balance with how it had been at the beginning of their foundation training, 41% of doctors said it was better or much better while 43% said that it was worse or much worse.
General practice
A third (30%) of all the doctors surveyed were qualified GPs, and of that subgroup 48% were GP partners. However, perceived GP shortages seems to be on the increase, with 90% of doctors reporting GP shortages in their area, up from 80% in 2014 and 46% in 2013.