Five things I wish I had known when I became a consultant

To report the advice consultants wish they had received on their appointment and to see if that advice differs by gender, or length of time since appointment.

An anonymous survey of consultants was undertaken through the alumni offices of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland. A link to a Qualtrics survey was sent and consultants were asked to list the five pieces of advice they wish they had been told on appointment. Free text boxes without limits were used. The responses were analysed and themes identified and subjected to statistical analysis.

A total of 379 consultants responded. The top five pieces of advice were, in order, self-care, work-life balance, relationships with colleagues, teamwork and continuous education. There was a majority of male respondents (60%) and just over 60% of respondents had more than ten years' experience as a consultant. Gender analysis showed that only one of the top five categories-continuous education-demonstrated a significant difference between male and female respondents (p < .001). Self-care was significantly less likely (p < .04) to feature as advice given in those more than twenty years a consultant. Females were significantly more likely to advise learning to 'say no' than males (p < .001). More males had responses in relation to 'financial advice' (p = .002) and 'teaching' (p = .04) compared to females.

The emergence of 'self-care' and 'work-life balance' as the top pieces of advice suggests that consultants regret that they have not looked after their health. The fact that 'self-care' was significantly less likely to feature among consultants more than twenty years in practice may point to generational differences.