Recruitment of psychiatrists

Brockington & Mumford (2002) and Storer (2002) target a topic of major concern in their thoughtful papers on recruitment to psychiatry. I was particularly interested in the comments on ‘Background factors affecting the recruitment of psychiatrists’ (pp. 308-309). In 1998 an article of mine was published concerning a small-scale survey of the characteristics of consultant forensic psychiatrists (Prins, 1998). As part of this survey, I asked 37 consultants (of whom 30 replied) what had led them to take up (a) psychiatry and (b) forensic psychiatry. (Other questions concerned attractions and difficulties in the latter field.) I am concerned here only to detail some of the responses to question (a). I discovered that some clinicians have indicated background influences publicly. For example, Professor Pamela Taylor has stated that, ‘Two of the more powerful influences in my personal background were chronic, deteriorating neurological illness in the family, and the Church’ (Taylor, 1997: p. 20). Professor Robert Bluglass has written with considerable candour and humour about the persistence of his early efforts to enter medical school (Bluglass, 1996: p. 96). Less publicly, some of the respondents referred to similar experiences — for example, serious illness or exposure to the suffering of others, particularly within the family or as a result of experiences in the armed forces. Several came from backgrounds in medicine; interestingly, for some, school influences seemed very important. Overall, a dominant theme that emerged was of an interest in people rather than in ‘illness’ per se. However, a few appeared to have entered psychiatry almost by default (the word is not used here in any pejorative sense): ‘I was too clumsy with my hands for surgery’; ‘I was not physically suitable’. Mine was a very small-scale survey but happily confirmed by Brockington & Mumford's findings; namely, that a decision was taken at a fairly early age to enter medicine, with a later decision to enter psychiatry. These seemed to be determined largely by a feeling of lack of satisfaction with the less personal and holistic aspects of other specialist medical practice. Since schools and other early experiences seem to be quite influential, it may be that more attention should be paid to this aspect than has been the case hitherto. The interesting reasons why my respondents chose forensic psychiatry may be found at pp. 144-146 of my paper.