An analysis of medical students' attitude to surgical careers and pursuing intercalated research degrees.

INTRODUCTION: Major changes are occurring in surgical training in the UK and Ireland. Training time is reduced due to the introduction of run-through training and the EWTD. Streamlined training also may affect the number of trainees engaging in full-time higher degrees by research, in spite of the fact that those who do engage are more academically productive. This study assesses the attitudes of medical students towards a career in surgery and their attitudes to research, especially in the context of an intercalated degree programme.

METHODS: 615 students comprising both undergraduates and postgraduates from RCSI were surveyed. The influence of a number of factors was ranked using five-point Likert scales. Students were asked to rate the importance of research to their future careers.

RESULTS: 595 (97 %) of those surveyed completed the questionnaire satisfactorily. Those interested in surgery were more likely to be male, undergraduate students and younger. Factors encouraging students to pursue a surgical career were prestige, identification of a surgical mentor, financial reward and research opportunities on offer (p < 0.001 in all cases). Almost 27 % of students had already engaged with some form of research project. A significant proportion of those interested and not interested in surgery (26 and 29 % respectively) would consider taking time out to do an intercalated research degree as part of their primary medical studies.

CONCLUSION: Surgical training faces significant challenges. One way to encourage the next generation of academic surgeons may be to offer some candidates intercalated research degrees while pursuing their medical qualification.