Gill Turner

Career choices of United Kingdom medical graduates of 1999 and 2000: questionnaire surveys

The career choices of doctors at the end of their preregistration year have been studied for doctors who qualified in the United Kingdom in 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1996.1–4 We report here on the graduates of 1999 and 2000. The survey population comprised all graduates from all medical schools in the United Kingdom in 1999 and 2000. We used graduation lists from each medical school to compile our database. The doctors were sent a questionnaire towards the end of their preregistration year; non-respondents were sent a maximum of four reminders. As in earlier surveys,1–4 graduates were asked to state up to three choices of long term career in order of …

Career choices of United Kingdom medical graduates of 2002: questionnaire survey

Objectives  To report the specialty choices of UK medical graduates of 2002, and to compare their choices with those of qualifiers in previous years and with the profile of career grade doctors in different specialties in England.

Reasons why some UK medical graduates who initially choose psychiatry do not pursue it as a long-term career

BACKGROUND Some doctors who initially choose psychiatry do not pursue it as a long-term career. The study seeks to identify reasons for leaving psychiatry. METHOD Postal questionnaire survey of UK medical graduates of 1988, 1993, 1996 and 1999 identified as having left psychiatry; for comparison, doctors who left general practice or trauma and orthopaedics. RESULTS Response rate was 74% (572/778); 488 respondents satisfied study criteria (59 psychiatry, 318 general practice, 111 trauma and orthopaedics). The specialitys poor public image, perceived lack of respect from medical peers, perceived threat of violence from patients, under-resourcing and low morale were problems for psychiatry leavers. Job stress, self-assessed unsuitability, and concerns about the lack of evidence-based treatments also influenced decisions to leave psychiatry. CONCLUSIONS Early exposure to psychiatry may help trainees assess their suitability. Negative perceptions of workforce issues (e.g. low morale) and of clinical issues (e.g. perceived lack of ability to improve prognosis) need addressing to increase retention.

Career choices for obstetrics and gynaecology: national surveys of graduates of 1974-2002 from UK medical schools.

Objective  To report the trends in career choices for obstetrics and gynaecology among UK medical graduates.

Imagined and emerging career patterns: perceptions of doctoral students and research staff

Increasingly, research staff positions rather than lectureships are the reality for social sciences PhD graduates wishing academic work. Within this context, our longitudinal study examined how social science doctoral students and research staff in two UK universities imagined their futures in and out of academia. The variation over time in how they viewed their futures is examined through the lens of identity-trajectory. The results emphasise how individuals balanced their academic intentions with social, personal and physical desires and constraints. The results also enrich understanding of early academic career experience and the conceptualisation of identity-trajectory. Research and policy implications are considered.

Doctoral experience as researcher preparation: activities, passion, status

Purpose – Social science doctoral graduates increasingly are moving into higher education research positions yet the nature of these roles is under researched. The purpose of this paper is to compare the experiences of research staff (RS) and doctoral students (DS), to bring an awareness of the extent to which doctoral experience can be preparation for research roles.Design/methodology/approach – This research adopts a narrative perspective. Using multi‐method data collection the authors compared seven RS and seven DS from the social sciences, capturing their experiences during the first year of a longitudinal study. Analysis involved developing case summaries and thematic coding.Findings – The findings detail similarities in the work undertaken by each group; show that passionate thought for academic work is rooted early in academic life; and illustrate that status is more complex and fluid than previously noted, regardless of role.Research limitations/implications – Numbers are small; however, although ...

Career choices for pathology: national surveys of graduates of 1974-2002 from UK medical schools.

In the past 10 years there has been increasing concern about recruitment of junior doctors into pathology, particularly histopathology, in the UK. In this study, we report on career choices for pathology, derived from postal questionnaire surveys of all qualifiers from all UK medical schools in nine qualification years since 1974. 74% (24 623/33 417) and 73% (20 709/28 468) of doctors responded at 1 and 3 years after qualification. The percentage of doctors choosing pathology 1 year after qualification has fallen sharply in recent years: between 1974 and 1983 it was 4.5% (95% confidence interval 4.1–4.9%) and between 1993 and 2002 it was 2.3% (CI 2.0–2.5%). 57% of doctors who chose pathology 1 year after qualification were still working in pathology at year 10. Hours and conditions of work, the doctors personal assessment of their aptitudes, and their experience of the subject as a student influenced long‐term career choices for pathology. Recruitment of UK graduates into the pathology specialties must increase to meet demand in the new and expanding subspecialties. This depends on developing innovative ways of raising the profile of pathology to medical students and junior hospital doctors. Copyright

Learning to supervise: four journeys

This article explores the experiences of four early career academics as they begin to undertake doctoral supervision. Each supervisor focused on one of their supervisees and drew and described a Journey Plot depicting the high and low points of their supervisory experience with their student. Two questions were addressed by the research: (1) How do early career academics experience doctoral supervision? (2) What challenges do early career academics face as they learn to supervise? Analysis of the data confirmed new supervisory experiences as variable, personalised, and emotional and further identified them as marked by agency and resilience, with time an important factor in supervisor development. Three common areas of challenge were noted: unrealised supervisory expectations, student-supervisor relationships, and commitment. Navigating these challenges was key to these individuals developing their expertise as doctoral supervisors.

Becoming a PI: agency, persistence and some luck!

Purpose This paper aims to examine the experience of gaining research independence by becoming a principal investigator (PI) – an aspiration for many post-PhD researchers about whom little is known. It provides insight into this experience by using a qualitative narrative approach to document how 60 PIs from a range of disciplines in one European and two UK universities experienced working towards and achieving this significant goal. Design/methodology/approach Within the context of a semi-structured interview, individuals drew and elaborated a map representing the emotional high and low experiences of the journey from PhD graduation to first PI grant, and completed a biographic questionnaire. Findings Regardless of the length of the journey from PhD graduation to first PI grant, more than a third noted the role that luck played in getting the grant. Luck was also perceived to have an influence in other aspects of academic work. This influence made it even more important for these individuals to sustain a belief in themselves and be agentive and persistent in managing the challenges of the journey. Originality/value The study, unusual in its cross-national perspective, and its mixed mode data collection, offers a nuanced perspective on the interaction between agency and an environment where the “randomness factor” plays a role in success. The function of luck as a support for sustained agency and resilience is explored.

Tracking Experience Over Time: Epistemological Issues and Methodological Challenges

Abstract Early career researchers are of increasing interest, regardless of national boundaries, given both policies to enhance international competitiveness, and concerns about individuals turning away from academic careers. As a result, there is a growing literature documenting how early career researchers navigate their journeys and decide to stay or leave. Our research is situated within this literature, yet is distinct in using a longitudinal qualitative team-based approach that has led to the conception of identity incorporating both the continuity of stable personhood over time and a sense of ongoing change. The scholarly contribution of this work is to articulate a contrasting perspective to the structural or systemic one common in examining early career researcher experience. Our goal in this chapter is to make transparent the decisions and actions underlying our approach and, in so doing, demonstrate the potential of researching the construction of identity in this way.