Factors affecting recruitment to higher specialty training: a questionnaire study

We identified five factors that defined trainees’ career intentions: supportive environment; lifestyle controllability; prestige; job security; science and challenge. Of these, only lifestyle controllability was significantly associated with an intention to pursue training in GIM. This factor described features of work scheduling. Free text descriptions corroborated trainee experiences of challenges around scheduling of work and ward rounds, handovers and administration tasks. These experiences created work schedule unpredictability, which may inform decisions about specialties where more control over timing and lifestyle compatibility are perceived.