Medical grads take training posts personally

MEDICAL graduates consider hard work and positive personal attributes to be more influential in achieving career goals and accessing further training than the quality or features of their medical school’s program.

A new study, based on surveys of 375 doctors and doctors-in-training, has found that junior doctors nominate personal characteristics such as motivation and persistence as the key contributing factors to success in gaining intern and vocational training places.

Among the common comments expressed by respondents was the perception “that their degree had very little effect on their access to further training, apart from being a prerequisite to complete”.

“More emphasis and research should be devoted to selecting the most appropriate candidates, rather than restructuring medical curricula to meet a presumed need for more content knowledge before graduation,” the authors wrote.

Researchers from the three universities participating in the study, the University of Sydney, Charles Sturt University and the Australian National University, also called for strategies to be devised to help medical students remain focused and cope with the stresses of medical school.

MJA 2010; 193:277-80