Medical trainees’ speciality considerations at their transition from under- to postgraduate education: a descriptive, cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to provide knowledge on medical trainees’ considerations about specialisation as they move from undergraduate to postgraduate medical education; especially their interest in general practice compared to other specialities.<p> <p>Method: We developed and content-validated a questionnaire to examine medical trainees’ speciality considerations and conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study. All medical trainees initiating their internship in Denmark in 2022 (N = 1,188) were invited to participate in the study. Medical specialities were categorised as hospital service specialities, internal medicine specialities, primary care, psychiatry specialities and surgery and emergency specialities. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the cohort and examine the participants’ speciality considerations by assigning them to one of the following three orientations: committed, undecided or noncommitted to a speciality. <p>Results: The response rate was 38.8% (n = 461), and participants’ mean age was 27.4 years with a majority of females (68.1%). Nearly 25% of the participants had general practice as speciality preference, and only 13.9% had excluded general practice for future specialisation. Overall, around half of the participants had general practice as a first, second or third preference for specialisation. <p>Conclusion: Danish medical trainees show considerable interest in general practice at the time of their transition from undergraduate to postgraduate education. However, to meet future demands on the primary care, further recruitment of general practitioners is still needed. This knowledge of the specialities’ recruitment potential will likely be of interest to medical educators and healthcare planners alike.