title: What about forensic psychiatry as a career? Undergraduate and early post-graduate medical perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical students in the UK are encouraged to plan their career earlier than ever before. What do they need to do that?
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the roles of the undergraduate curriculum and the foundation programme from the perspective of a foundation trainee looking towards a career in forensic psychiatry, and to conduct a pilot survey of undergraduates and early trainees about their knowledge and wishes with respect to forensic psychiatry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A fifth of those given a questionnaire responded. Among 36 responders, 14 were considering a career in forensic psychiatry. Some of the remainder did not know about the option at all; no one felt that they had sufficient information about this career option.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This was a pilot study with a low response rate, and confined to Wales, so the findings must be regarded with caution. Nevertheless, it does appear that a concerted effort by medical schools and relevant professional bodies to provide more information and encouragement to trainees at an early stage would be likely to support recruitment to the specialty of forensic psychiatry.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. alecthomas@doctors.org.uk
authors.forename: Alec
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom