Table 4.
Numbers and percentages of doctors who specified each factor affecting their career choice “a great deal.”
| Factor | Year 1 | Year 3 | Year 5 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dermatology % (N) |
Other hospital physician specialty % (N) |
Dermatology % (N) |
Other hospital physician specialty % (N) |
Dermatology % (N) |
Other hospital physician specialty % (N) |
|
| Hours/working conditions | 69% (211∗∗∗) | 31% (1793) | 75% (105∗∗∗) | 35% (769) | 82% (115∗∗∗) | 38% (981) |
| Domestic circumstances | 54% (195∗∗∗) | 23% (1605) | 45% (106∗∗∗) | 22% (731) | 44% (90∗∗∗) | 27% (884) |
| Future financial prospects | 25% (59∗∗∗) | 9% (410) | 25% (34∗∗∗) | 7% (166) | 17% (24∗∗∗) | 7% (193) |
| Career and promotion prospects | 29% (80∗∗) | 22% (1250) | 48% (96∗∗∗) | 27% (785) | 36% (75∗∗∗) | 25% (834) |
| Experience of jobs so far | 34% (79∗∗∗) | 54% (2792) | 41% (97∗∗∗) | 59% (1989) | 51% (106∗∗∗) | 66% (2197) |
| Self-appraisal | 43% (120∗) | 49% (2939) | 51% (122) | 55% (1852) | 54% (112) | 57% (1894) |
| Student experience of subject | 38% (131) | 40% (2620) | 33% (71∗) | 26% (814) | 31% (59∗∗) | 23% (718) |
| A particular teacher/department | 33% (89) | 29% (1680) | 30% (59∗) | 37% (987) | 30% (49∗) | 39% (1045) |
| Inclinations before medical school | 5% (14∗) | 9% (531) | 6% (14) | 8% (245) | 7% (14) | 7% (211) |
| Enthusiasm/commitment | 54% (164) | 60% (3492) | 65% (90) | 70% (1550) | 80% (113) | 80% (2094) |
| Advice from others | 17% (48) | 17% (974) | 21% (42) | 20% (571) | 17% (36) | 16% (548) |
| Other reasons | 11% (11) | 13% (260) | 16% (17) | 18% (260) | 26% (19) | 24% (273) |
| Financial circumstances while training | 6% (3) | 3% (31) | 5% (6) | 5% (82) | 3% (3) | 6% (71) |
∗ indicates p < 0.05; ∗∗ indicates p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ indicates p < 0.001, comparing dermatology with other hospital physician specialties, within each year, for each factor. For details of specialties included as “other hospital physician” specialties, see Methods.