Vascular Surgery Trainee Retention in the UK: How Many Leave and Why? A Survey of Trainee and Training Programme Directors’ perceptions.
Background: It is currently not known how many trainees leave vascular surgery, and their reasons for doing so are unclear. This paper is the first to publish the number of UK trainees leaving the training programme and interrogates their reasons for doing so.
Methods: An email survey was distributed to current and recent Training Programme Directors (TPDs) to quantify the number of trainees resigning between 2013 and 2019. Trainees resigning a National Training Number (NTN) were surveyed regarding their reasons for doing so.
Results: Since 2013, 23 UK vascular surgery trainees have resigned NTNs, representing 15.4% of the 149 NTNs awarded between 2013 and our analysis. Reasons for leaving, as relayed by TPDs, included availability of an academic career, geography, health and many other reasons classified as “work-life balance” factors. Data from the trainees surveyed also highlighted work-life balance but also identified pressures within the training system and NHS.
Conclusions: UK data of this sort has not previously been available. The authors recommend prospective data collection, structured exit interviews with trainees who decide to leave, improvements to the inter-deanery transfer process, increased consideration of flexible training options and early realistic exposure to vascular surgery for junior doctors to improve trainee retention rates in vascular surgery.
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Posted 28 Sep, 2020
Received 10 Nov, 2020
On 10 Nov, 2020
Received 03 Nov, 2020
On 03 Nov, 2020
Received 03 Nov, 2020
On 02 Nov, 2020
On 30 Oct, 2020
On 09 Oct, 2020
Invitations sent on 29 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
Vascular Surgery Trainee Retention in the UK: How Many Leave and Why? A Survey of Trainee and Training Programme Directors’ perceptions.
Posted 28 Sep, 2020
Received 10 Nov, 2020
On 10 Nov, 2020
Received 03 Nov, 2020
On 03 Nov, 2020
Received 03 Nov, 2020
On 02 Nov, 2020
On 30 Oct, 2020
On 09 Oct, 2020
Invitations sent on 29 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
Background: It is currently not known how many trainees leave vascular surgery, and their reasons for doing so are unclear. This paper is the first to publish the number of UK trainees leaving the training programme and interrogates their reasons for doing so.
Methods: An email survey was distributed to current and recent Training Programme Directors (TPDs) to quantify the number of trainees resigning between 2013 and 2019. Trainees resigning a National Training Number (NTN) were surveyed regarding their reasons for doing so.
Results: Since 2013, 23 UK vascular surgery trainees have resigned NTNs, representing 15.4% of the 149 NTNs awarded between 2013 and our analysis. Reasons for leaving, as relayed by TPDs, included availability of an academic career, geography, health and many other reasons classified as “work-life balance” factors. Data from the trainees surveyed also highlighted work-life balance but also identified pressures within the training system and NHS.
Conclusions: UK data of this sort has not previously been available. The authors recommend prospective data collection, structured exit interviews with trainees who decide to leave, improvements to the inter-deanery transfer process, increased consideration of flexible training options and early realistic exposure to vascular surgery for junior doctors to improve trainee retention rates in vascular surgery.
Figure 1