Career changes among Saskatchewan physicians.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how often Saskatchewan physicians changed career paths during medical training and practice.


METHODS
Population survey (mailed questionnaire).


METHODS
Saskatchewan.


METHODS
All 1077 active members of the Saskatchewan Medical Association were sent a questionnaire; 493 (45.8%) responded.


METHODS
Long-term career goal or plan in next-to-last year of undergraduate medical school, probable choice of career if forced to choose at that time, and number of physicians who changed their field of training or practice at any time since graduation.


RESULTS
In all, 57.8% (237/410) of the respondents were currently practising in a field different from that planned in their next-to-last year of medical school, 63.5% (275/436) were not practising in the field they would have chosen if forced to at that time, and 42.9% (211/492) had changed their field of training or practice at some time since graduation. Older physicians, those who graduated outside of Canada and specialists were the most likely to have changed career paths, family physicians, and those who graduated in Saskatchewan were the least likely to have changed.


CONCLUSIONS
The current system of postgraduate training in Canada does not permit career changes of the sort made by most of the practising Saskatchewan physicians in the survey sample. The implications of this new system are as yet unknown but require careful monitoring.
Shaw
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Student Medical Society, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Goplen
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Houston
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DS
D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D012525:Saskatchewan; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires