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Medical and Dental Careers Strategy
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to advise best practice and priorities for careers development within the UK medical and dental workforce. Although it is clearly recognised that doctors form only part of the health care workforce, this is detailed guidance to maximise the potential of this group of healthcare professionals. It is also understood that multi professional working will be key in maximising benefits to patient care.
It is recognised that we work in a complex regulatory and educational environment involving multiple agencies. However best practice in careers advice should be applicable to all. All of the principles apply equally to dentistry, but for sake of clarity the processes for medicine are used throughout this document.
Principles
• A four-nation approach to best practice
• Careers advice that empowers individuals to make their own decisions and take ownership of their career management
• Social inclusion • Doctors should be supported to be the best they can be
• Doctors must be prepared to adapt flexibly to changing future career pathways
• Careers advice should be timely, and realistic in context
• Careers advice must be tailored to both the individual’s situation and the health economy
Key relationships
In order to look at medical training as life long and a continuum of practice, strengthening the relationship and understanding between UK medical schools and Postgraduate training in the devolved nations is vital.
The link between career aspirations and work force requirements must be made explicit to all doctors working within the UK health service, as the NHS is the usual first employer of all doctors graduating in the UK. Therefore future links with employers remain important.
The realities of being a doctor and dentist
Throughout the medical and dental careers structure opportunities exist and advice should be accessible before an individual starts or continues on a certain path.
In medicine, there are concerns at the present time with regards to the numbers not entering specialty training directly after completing the Foundation Programme, and the availability of this advice may support both recruitment and retention within the medical profession. Dentistry currently has adequate numbers applying to specialty training to provide a competitive process. MDRS Careers Strategy 2021 3 All those who advise on a particular career, must be able to advise or sign-post on the realities of day to day life, so advice is realistic and credible. Traditionally selection processes have concentrated on academic and attitudinal values. However other skills such as resilience are vital. For all, however, the realities of practising medicine or dentistry must be clear. These include the impact on personal life, and conversely the impact of personal life on a medical or dental career.
Doctors and dentists are often leaders, and although not the only leaders of the multiprofessional clinical team, they must be capable of leadership. Leadership skills are required and explicitly measured by the CQC.
The modern, clinical environment is one of reduced autonomy compared to the historical role of the doctor or dentist. This is in a system of increased monitoring, on-going assessment and, for doctors, revalidation.
The support of translating skills into clinical practice, whilst available via educational and clinical supervision for clinical development, may also need to be developed for non-clinical skills.
The importance of career decision making in medicine is reflected in career management now being a part of the Foundation Programme Curriculum, requiring foundation doctors to demonstrate active participation in career decision making. Elements that make up effective career decision making are also part of the GMC’s GPCs. This means that this is a regulated requirement across all postgraduate medical programmes.
Career choice is more than ever shaped by the reality of service needs. In dentistry 95% of the workforce is in primary dental care, with a relatively small number of highly competitive specialty training posts in secondary care. The majority of dentists have careers in general dental practice and the potential issues here are associated with the need for a change in skill mix. Medical and dental students and postgraduate doctors and dentists need to be given factual information on the prospects of careers in certain specialties that they value and understand. This should evolve and inform individual career choices as the service changes; including acknowledging that career options are closely linked to the needs of the service and some may be limited.
In a continuously reconfiguring and changing healthcare environment our careers advice must reflect both the skills required of the doctor or dentist and the career choices available and an understanding that career development skills are required throughout a working life as part of the increasingly ‘portfolio’ nature of doctors' and dentists’ careers.
Useful links:
www.cqc.org.uk/content/our-new-inspection-model#reporting
https://www.medschools.ac.uk/our-work/selection/selecting-for-excellence