Survey shows paediatricians prefer working less hours
A study by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has unveiled concerns within the specialty, including a lack of confidence to apply for consultant posts and the preference to work part time.
Results claimed that a third of trainee paediatricians were too nervous to consider applying for consultant posts, with 29% concerned about becoming a consultant. This could partly be linked to the 43% who believe they don’t get enough protected teaching time, with 4.6% of the trainees actually dropping out. 45% even reported that they had taken time out from training over the past two years.
The findings revealed that over half of trainee paediatricians, including 63% of female doctors, would rather do part time shifts, with 10% of the trainee doctors aspiring to work abroad instead of the UK. Only 8.2% wanted to work in community paediatrics, despite 19% of the jobs being in this field of the specialty.
More confidence
Approximately 446 doctors took part in the survey after completing five years of specialist training.
Dr Carol Ewing, a college vice-president, said “Increasing numbers of trainees are looking to work part-time and we need to consider this demand in future workforce planning. We continue to work with the trainees on developing the best workforce models for consultant resident shift working and we are committed to developing a portfolio career approach for consultants.”
Dr Dan Lumsden, who chairs the college’s trainees’ committee, said “More work is needed to understand how our attrition rates compare with other specialities, and the reasons why a minority of trainees leave paediatric training each year. More support may be needed for some trainees to ensure we do not needlessly lose good doctors from the child health workforce.”
