Abstract
Thank you for publishing the essay by McNally. 1 It highlighted thoughts concerning competition for specialty places.
It is more striking to see real numbers quantifying the statistical fact that women are more successful at specialty selection than their male counterparts, than the often exaggerated tales from senior clinicians explaining such.
It could be an interesting exercise to see whether the increase of women in medicine, and as mentioned by the author concerning success rates for specialty posts ‘that women have such a high success rate because only the most able apply’ could impact upon the perceptions of success by men, so that only the most able apply from both sexes. Furthermore, it might be worth investigating in the future the impact such a gender imbalance has upon competition ratios for general practice.
As a student representative for progressive change concerning undergraduate medical education throughout my undergraduate medical career, it should be noted that significant progress has been made concerning the surgical specialties – the surgical colleges have demonstrated significant sustained interest in educating medical students and junior doctors concerning their craft.
The overwhelming emphasis should be on producing thorough careers advice to medical students from a holistic perspective. This is particularly relevant to my generation of medical students and junior doctors who must chose a specialty much earlier in their postgraduate, and even undergraduate, careers.
However, the significant careers advice that abounds concerning specialties can often be ignored by those meant to benefit – thus it should be encouraged that students should mould an investigative mindset that underpins success.
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