The impact of the current medico-legal and regulatory culture in Ireland on the decision of graduate entry medical school students to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology.

Objectives: Medico-legal and regulatory culture has a significant impact on medical practitioners, including the decision of graduates to enter high-risk specialties. This study explores the impact of the current medico-legal and regulatory culture in Ireland on the decision of graduate entry medical students to enter one high risk specialty, obstetrics and gynecology.

Study Design: We conducted a survey of 146 final-year, graduate-entry medical students pre- and post- a 6-week rotation in obstetrics and gynecology in Ireland.

Factors impacting on the decision of graduate entry medical school students to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology in Ireland.

Background: Challenges in recruiting appropriately trained obstetricians and gynaecologists have been identified across the world. Given well documented staff shortages within obstetrics and gynaecology in Ireland, it is increasingly important to understand the factors which influence medical students to choose or reject a career in the speciality. The aim of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of final year graduate entry medical students of obstetrics and gynaecology, including the factors which may influence a student's decision to pursue in a career in the speciality.

An Exploratory Study of the Impact of the Medico-Legal Environment on Surgical Practice in Ireland.

Defensive medicine describes behaviours engaged in by physicians, for the purposes of averting the threat of medical negligence litigation and/or complaints. Defensive practice typically encompasses 'assurance' or 'avoidance' behaviours, or 'positive' or 'negative' defensive medicine. Assurance behaviours include, for example, meticulous notetaking and ordering further clinically unnecessary tests, whereas avoidance behaviours encompass actions such as refusing to engage with a patient perceived to be high-risk.