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Commentary and Debate qualification, doctors surveyed reported work experience as being a more important determinant of career choice when choosing psychiatry than with other specialties (Goldacre 2005). This would indicate that foundation posts in psychiatry may have a positive effect on recruitment, and this has been borne out to some extent (Boyle et al, 2009). Even where a doctor is unable to work in a foundation post, tasters in psychiatry can be organized as part of the foundation programme in order to give the foundation some additional experience of psychiatry. Unfortunately, doctors’ experiences of psychiatry if they are not doing a foundation post may be limited to occasional acute presentations, which if they do not have access to a psychiatric liaison service may be very difficult and frustrating to manage. Liaison psychiatry services, where they exist, may present valuable opportunities for psychiatrists to demonstrate the relevance of the specialty across all branches of medicine, to portray a positive image of psychiatry to our nonpsychiatric colleagues as well as to educate and motivate those doctors who are as yet undecided in their career choice towards considering psychiatry as a career. In summary, the major possible targets for recruitment into psychiatry would appear to be improving undergraduate experience in a variety of ways, maximising positive exposure to psychiatry during the foundation years, and supporting those who show an interest in psychiatry early on. Ideally any strategy should be coupled with an overarching aim to increase the profile and awareness of the importance and validity of psychiatry as a profession amongst the lay population as well as the medical community. So what has been done to address the problem? The Royal College of Psychiatrists has taken urgent steps by means of a Scoping Group on Undergraduate Education in Psychiatry, which has helped to develop a core curriculum for undergraduate psychiatry. Work is also being done with the Academic Faculty and the Association of University Teachers of Psychiatry to address issues within the undergraduate experience that adversely affect the image of psychiatry (Brown et al, 2009). The Royal College has also prioritised a process of engaging more closely with medical students. A student associate grade has been introduced, whereby interested students can sign up to the Royal College for free and gain access to various resources, such as electronic versions of the Royal College’s publications, a dedicated section of the Royal College website, reduced prices for college events and a variety of other benefits. An annual summer school has been organised in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry and South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. A lot of this work has been done with the help of the Psychiatric Trainees Committee, who have also embarked on a project of developing student psychiatry societies in each medical school across the UK. These societies, with the support of local consultants, academic departments and trainees, aim to foster interest and raise the profile of psychiatry within medical schools by means of talks, careers events and educational meetings (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2008). There is an additional aim to expand the numbers of foundation posts available within psychiatry, however this will require extensive negotiation and planning with the Foundation Schools and is an ongoing project. The Psychiatric Trainees Committee is also developing an e- learning project to enable foundation doctors to develop psychiatry competencies, which will be mapped to the new foundation curriculum, and with an emphasis on the overlap of psychiatric problems and physical health problems. This project endeavours to increase the resources available for foundation doctors to further their understanding of the relevance of psychiatry to the medical profession as a whole. 26 Surrey and Borders Online Journal www.sabp.nhs.uk/journal
The measures outlined above will hopefully go some way to addressing the current issues surrounding recruitment into psychiatry, however it seems clear these measures will require the support of the profession as a whole. Portraying a positive image of psychiatry, by means of emphasis on academia, use of evidence based treatments, enthusiastic and active involvement in teaching of medical students and foundation doctors requires the help of all psychiatrists (of any grade) who may encounter them. Medical students and foundation doctors are our potential colleagues of the future, and we owe it to our patients to try to recruit the very best. References Boyle A.M. et al (2009) ‘Recruitment from Foundation year 2 posts into specialty training: a potential success story?’ Psychiatric Bulletin 33: 306-308 Brockington I., Mumford D. (2002) ‘Recruitment into Psychiatry’ Br J Psychiatry 180: 307-12 Brown N., Vassilas C. A., Oakley, C. (2009) ‘Recruiting Psychiatrists – A Sisyphean task?’ Psychiatric Bulletin 33: 390 - 392 Craddock N. et al (2008) ‘Wake-up call for British Psychiatry’ Br J Psychiatry 193: 6-9 Eagles J. M., Wilson S., Murdoch J. M., Brown T. (2007) ‘What impact do undergraduate experiences have upon recruitment into psychiatry?’ Psychiatric Bulletin 31: 70-2 Maidment R., Livingston G., Katona M., et al (2004) ‘Changes in attitudes to psychiatry and intention to pursue psychiatry as a career in newly qualified doctors: a follow up of two cohorts of medical students’ Medical Teacher 26: 565 - 569 McParland M., Noble L. M., Livingston G., &McManus, C. (2003) ‘The effect of a psychiatric attachment on students’ attitudes to and intention to pursue psychiatry as a career’ Medical Education 37 (5): 447-454 Oxtoby K. (2008) ‘Psychiatry in Crisis’ British Medical Journal classified supplement 27/8 Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008) Tackling psychiatry’s recruitment crisis head on RCPSych News 2010 Jan (http//www.rcpsych.ac.uk/member/rcpsyc hnews/november2008) Royal College of Psychiatrists (2009) Dean’s newsletter Royal College of Psychiatrists website 2010 Jan (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/specialtytrainin g.aspx) Scott, J. (1986) ‘What puts medical students off psychiatry?’ Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 10 Commentary and Debate Surrey and Borders Online Journal www.sabp.nhs.uk/journal 27
Page 1 and 2: Issue 1 Summer 2010 Surrey and Bord
Page 3 and 4: Do you ever wonder why you agree to
Page 5 and 6: We are not so aware of the hidden f
Page 7 and 8: esorting too soon to complex statis
Page 9 and 10: Bipolar Disorder: how effective is
Page 11 and 12: Research Method The study was condu
Page 13 and 14: Screened for Hypomania Yes No Total
Page 15 and 16: In our sample the GPs screening met
Page 17 and 18: Audit of risk assessment documentat
Page 19 and 20: Fig. 2 Re-audit May 2009 - distribu
Page 21 and 22: An evolving service - results of a
Page 23 and 24: having clinical responsibility for
Page 25: school exposure to psychiatry as an
Page 29 and 30: Interview with Fiona Edwards, Chief
Page 31 and 32: Q. Very topical to that is the appo

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