biostudies-literature00420Unknown11(8)Lambert TW<h4>Objective</h4>To report doctors' early career preferences for emergency medicine, their eventual career destinations and factors influencing their career pathways.<h4>Design</h4>Self-administered questionnaire surveys.<h4>Setting</h4>United Kingdom.<h4>Participants</h4>All graduates from all UK medical schools in selected graduation years between 1993 and 2015.<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Choices for preferred eventual specialty; eventual career destinations; certainty about choice of specialty; correspondence between early specialty choice for emergency medicine and eventually working in emergency medicine.<h4>Results</h4>Emergency medicine was chosen by 5.6% of graduates of 2015 when surveyed in 2016, and 7.1% of graduates of 2012 surveyed in 2015. These figures represent a modest increase compared with other recent cohorts, but there is no evidence of a sustained long-term trend of an increase. More men than women specified emergency medicine - in 2016 6.6% vs. 5.0%, and in 2015 7.9% vs. 6.5%. Doctors choosing emergency medicine were less certain about their choice than doctors choosing other specialties. Of graduates of 2005 who chose emergency medicine in year 1, only 18% were working in emergency medicine in year 10. Looking backwards, from destinations to early choices, 46% of 2005 graduates working in emergency medicine in 2015 had specified emergency medicine as their choice of eventual specialty in year 1.<h4>Conclusions</h4>There was no substantial increase across the cohorts in choices for emergency medicine. Policy should address how to encourage more doctors to choose the specialty, and to create a future UK health service environment in which those who choose emergency medicine early on do not later change their minds in large numbers.JRSM open2054270420961595https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7586038biostudies-literatureEarly career choices for emergency medicine and later career destinations: national surveys of UK medical graduates.PMC7586038Goldacre MJLambert TWSmith F42falseEarly career choices for emergency medicine and later career destinations: national surveys of UK medical graduates.<h4>Objective</h4>To report doctors' early career preferences for emergency medicine, their eventual career destinations and factors influencing their career pathways.<h4>Design</h4>Self-administered questionnaire surveys.<h4>Setting</h4>United Kingdom.<h4>Participants</h4>All graduates from all UK medical schools in selected graduation years between 1993 and 2015.<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Choices for preferred eventual specialty; eventual career destinations; certainty about choice of specialty; correspondence between early specialty choice for emergency medicine and eventually working in emergency medicine.<h4>Results</h4>Emergency medicine was chosen by 5.6% of graduates of 2015 when surveyed in 2016, and 7.1% of graduates of 2012 surveyed in 2015. These figures represent a modest increase compared with other recent cohorts, but there is no evidence of a sustained long-term trend of an increase. More men than women specified emergency medicine - in 2016 6.6% vs. 5.0%, and in 2015 7.9% vs. 6.5%. Doctors choosing emergency medicine were less certain about their choice than doctors choosing other specialties. Of graduates of 2005 who chose emergency medicine in year 1, only 18% were working in emergency medicine in year 10. Looking backwards, from destinations to early choices, 46% of 2005 graduates working in emergency medicine in 2015 had specified emergency medicine as their choice of eventual specialty in year 1.<h4>Conclusions</h4>There was no substantial increase across the cohorts in choices for emergency medicine. Policy should address how to encourage more doctors to choose the specialty, and to create a future UK health service environment in which those who choose emergency medicine early on do not later change their minds in large numbers.2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Aug2024-02-15T03:47:28.166Z2020-11-08T09:46:46ZS-EPMC75860383314991910.1177/2054270420961595