Foundation trainees and changes in career intentions

To understand whether foundation trainees change their career intentions during psychiatry placements and explore what factors influence such changes.

Over a two-year period, foundation trainees completed questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of their four-month placement. There were two questions, the first as to how likely they were to pursue a career in psychiatry and the second openly asked them to elaborate on their reasons.

Twenty-one out of 41 eligible trainees returned all three questionnaires. The number of trainees 'highly likely' to choose psychiatry increased over the four-month period, from 4.5% to 19%. The number of trainees 'highly unlikely' to choose psychiatry decreased, from 27.3% to 9.5%. An increasingly positive intention towards a psychiatry career appeared to relate to enjoyment of the placement and the quality of supervision. The most common reason for not choosing psychiatry was a pre-existing interest in another specialty.

Undertaking a psychiatry placement during the foundation programme continues to increase the likelihood of a positive attitude towards psychiatry as a career. The findings of our study suggest good practice in providing foundation placements in psychiatry includes identifying medical school experience, enjoyment, quality weekly supervision and mindful experiential design of placements.