A survey to determine the potential impact of foundation year career aims on surgical specialty training

INTRODUCTION: The competition for Core Surgical Training (CST) positions and subsequent Surgical Specialty Training (ST3) posts throughout the UK is fierce. Our aim was to conduct a pilot study to assess whether current foundation year doctors were considering pursuing a career in surgery and the reasons guiding their decisions. METHODS: A ten-item questionnaire was voluntarily completed by foundation doctors at a large acute teaching trust. Factors evaluated included: experience working within a surgical rotation; previous consideration of a career in surgery; whether they found a career in surgery appealing; reasons guiding their decision and would they be applying to CST. RESULTS: All 67 foundation doctors approached agreed to participate: of which 56 (83.6%) had experience working within a surgical rotation. Males were significantly more likely to find a career in surgery appealing (p < 0.001). Although 20 (29.9%) had previously considered a surgical career, only 11 (16.4%) would be applying to CST. Reasons for finding a career in surgery appealing included: job satisfaction (84.2%), diversity of work (79.0%) and working environment/colleagues (47.4%). Of those that did not consider a career in surgery to be appealing, reasons included: working hours (75.0%), work/life balance (62.5%), working environment/colleagues (50%). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Although only a small proportion of current foundation doctors were surveyed in our study, only 16.4% were considering applying for CST. These figures are lower than previously suggested and would indicate that there will be fewer applicants for CST in future years, which may potentially reduce the current bottleneck of applicants at ST3.