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Psychiatry as a career choice compared with other specialties: A survey of medical students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sundararajan Rajagopal ,
Kamaljit Singh Rehill  and
Emma Godfrey
Sundararajan Rajagopal
Affiliation:
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH
Kamaljit Singh Rehill
Affiliation:
Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, London
Emma Godfrey
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychology, Guy's Hospital, London
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Abstract

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Aims and Method

The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of medical students in the UK towards different specialties as career options and to ascertain the position of psychiatry among these specialties. Students belonging to a London medical school completed a questionnaire.

Results

Among the 301 students who completed the survey, psychiatry was the least popular clinical specialty. The study revealed that the students had a number of misconceptions about psychiatry. A family history of mental illness was significantly associated with choosing psychiatry as a career.

Clinical Implications

Considering the unpopularity of the specialty, it is likely that recruitment of psychiatrists will continue to be a major problem for the foreseeable future. Measures need to be taken to dispel the misconceptions about psychiatry.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 28 , Issue 12 , December 2004 , pp. 444 - 446
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 2004. The Royal College of Psychiatrists.

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