O'Connor, K., Thekiso, T., Douglas, L., Barry, H., Flynn, D. and Swanwick, G. (2013) Evaluation of an innovative recruitment initiative on the attitudes of medical students. Irish Medical Journal, 106 (5). ISSN 03323102 (ISSN)
Some medical specialties struggle to recruit sufficient trainees to their postgraduate programmes. In many countries including Ireland, psychiatry is one of these specialties. A psychiatric summer school was developed by the trainee committee of the College of Psychiatry of Ireland as a recruitment initiative. All applicants were invited to complete a questionnaire prior, on the day of and three months after the summer school assessing their attitudes to a career in psychiatry. The mean score on the modified Nielson questionnaire in the pre-summer school group was 26.7 (SD +/- 3.8) and this rose significantly 28.3 (SD +/- 3.2) after completion of the summer school. 64% (n=31) of applicants to the Summer school expressed an interest in a career in psychiatry. This rose to 88% (n=32) of those who attended. The findings of this study have national and international interest for all specialties who are struggling to recruit to their field.
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