Burnout syndrome among psychiatric trainees in 22 countries: Risk increased by long working hours, lack of supervision, and psychiatry not being first career choice.

Background: Postgraduate medical trainees experience high rates of burnout, but evidence regarding psychiatric trainees is missing. We aim to determine burnout rates among psychiatric trainees, and identify individual, educational and work-related factors associated with severe burnout.

Methods: In an online survey psychiatric trainees from 22 countries were asked to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-GS) and provide information on individual, educational and work-related parameters.

Genetic association of the tachykinin receptor 1 TACR1 gene in bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the alcohol dependence syndrome.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the tachykinin receptor 1 gene (TACR1) are nominally associated with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) in a genome-wide association study and in several case-control samples of BPAD, alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Eighteen TACR1 SNPs were associated with BPAD in a sample (506 subjects) from University College London (UCL1), the most significant being rs3771829, previously associated with ADHD. To further elucidate the role of TACR1 in affective disorders, rs3771829 was genotyped in a second BPAD sample of 593 subjects (UCL2), in 997 subjects with ADS, and a subsample of 143 individuals diagnosed with BPAD and comorbid alcohol dependence (BPALC).

Genetic variants in or near ADH1B and ADH1C affect susceptibility to alcohol dependence in a British and Irish population.

Certain single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes confer a significant protective effect against alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) in East Asian populations. Recently, attention has focused on the role of these SNPs in determining ADS risk in European populations. To further elucidate these associations, SNPs of interest in ADH1B, ADH1C and the ADH1B/1C intergenic region were genotyped in a British and Irish population (ADS cases n = 1076: controls n = 1027) to assess their relative contribution to ADS risk.

Why medical students choose psychiatry - a 20 country cross-sectional survey.

Background: Recruitment to psychiatry is insufficient to meet projected mental health service needs world-wide. We report on the career plans of final year medical students from 20 countries, investigating factors identified from the literature which influence psychiatric career choice.

Methods: Cross sectional electronic or paper survey.

Are there future psychiatrists among medical students in Croatia? The role of premedical and medical factors on career choice in psychiatry.

Despite the high prevalence of mental disorders, a worldwide shortage of psychiatrists exists. Moreover, the number of students interested in choosing psychiatry as their future profession is low and psychiatry is frequently regarded as one of the least wanted medical specializations. We report the findings of a cross-sectional quantitative survey of final year Croatian medical students as part of the International Survey of Student Career Choice in Psychiatry (ISoSCCiP).

Recruitment to psychiatry in the Czech Republic: 'waiting for resuscitation'?

Recruitment to psychiatry is becoming a serious obstacle in providing first-class mental health treatment in many countries worldwide. We attempt to address this burning issue by examining medical student's attitudes towards psychiatry and factors influencing their career choice in the Czech Republic. In 2010, 71 students in their last year of medical school at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague were recruited in this quantitative cross-sectional online study.

Encouraging French medical students to choose a career in psychiatry: how and why?

There is an increasing demand for psychiatrists in France. This paper reviews the reasons for French medical students choosing psychiatry and the rationale and mechanisms for encouraging them towards this medical speciality. The main factors associated with choosing psychiatry as a career are the quantity and quality of undergraduate training and placements in psychiatry, better attitudes towards psychiatry and more emphasis on a positive life/work balance.

Student career choice in psychiatry: findings from 18 UK medical schools.

Psychiatry recruitment continues to be a problem in the UK and large-scale studies are required to understand the factors surrounding this. A quantitative, cross-sectional online survey, incorporating demographics, career choices, teaching exposure, attitudes to psychiatry and personality factors, was administered to final-year UK medical students. A total of 484 students from 18 medical schools responded (66% women).

What attracts medical students towards psychiatry? A review of factors before and during medical school.

Potential psychiatrists decide on their careers before, during or after medical school. This article summarises the literature focusing on the first two groups. Pre-medical school factors associated with choosing psychiatry include gender, academic aptitude, ethnicity and migration, exposure to mental illness, economic considerations and medical school route and selection.

Research into recruitment: critical gaps in the literature.

The aim of this paper is to systematically review the literature available internationally on recruitment into psychiatry. A 5-stage search strategy was followed to identify all relevant studies published between 1999-2012. These were then critically appraised using a standardized tool, and the results summarized.

Experience of psychiatry teaching at medical school influences Croatian medical students' attitudes towards choosing psychiatry as a career.

Background: Reports indicate that the number of students interested in choosing psychiatry as their future profession is constantly decreasing in the last decades. Our aim was to determine the proportion of medical students intending to pursue a career in psychiatry and to define undergraduate education-related factors influencing that choice.

Subjects And Methods: We report the preliminary findings of a cross sectional quantitative survey of final year Croatian medical students as part of the International Survey Of Student Career Choice In Psychiatry (ISOSCCIP).

Factors influencing French medical students towards a career in psychiatry.

Background: There is a need to increase the recruitment to psychiatry in France. Our aim in this study was to compare factors influencing career choice between French medical students considering and not considering psychiatry as a specialty.

Subjects And Methods: Quantitative cross-sectional online survey on 145 French students in their last year of medical school.

Choice of antipsychotic treatment by European psychiatry trainees: are decisions based on evidence?

Background: Little is known about the factors influencing treatment choice in psychosis, the majority of this work being conducted with specialists (consultant) in psychiatry. We sought to examine trainees' choices of treatment for psychosis if they had to prescribe it for themselves, their patients, and factors influencing decision-making.

Methods: Cross-sectional, semi-structured questionnaire-based study.

Confirmation of prior evidence of genetic susceptibility to alcoholism in a genome-wide association study of comorbid alcoholism and bipolar disorder.

Objectives: Alcoholism and affective disorders are both strongly comorbid and heritable. We have investigated the genetic comorbidity between bipolar affective disorder and alcoholism.

Methods: A genome-wide allelic association study of 506 patients from the University College London bipolar disorder case-control sample and 510 ancestrally matched supernormal controls.

Genetic association study of GABRA2 single nucleotide polymorphisms and electroencephalography in alcohol dependence.

The gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) system has been implicated in the susceptibility to develop alcohol dependence and in determining electroencephalogram (EEG) beta activity. The role of the GABA receptor alpha-2 gene (GABRA2) in human alcohol dependence was determined in a genetic and electrophysiological study. The study population comprised 586 white UK individuals with alcohol dependence but a very low prevalence of co-morbid drug dependence, and 603 ancestrally matched healthy controls.

Analysis of genetic deletions and duplications in the University College London bipolar disorder case control sample.

Genetic deletions and duplications known as copy number variants have been strongly implicated in genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and epilepsy. The overall rate of copy number variants in the University College London (UCL) bipolar disorder sample was found to be slightly lower than the rate in controls. This finding confirms the results from other studies that have also shown no increased rate of copy number variants in bipolar disorder.

Support of association between BRD1 and both schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

A recent study published by our group implicated the bromodomain containing protein 1 (BRD1) gene located at chromosome 22q13.33 with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar affective disorder (BPD) susceptibility and provided evidence suggesting a possible role for BRD1 in neurodevelopment. The present study reports an association analysis of BRD1 and the neighboring gene ZBED4 using a Caucasian case-control sample from Denmark and England (UK/DK sample: 490 patients with BPD, 527 patients with SZ, and 601 control individuals), and genotypes obtained from a BPD genome wide association (GWA) study of an overlapping English sample comprising 506 patients with BPD and 510 control individuals (UCL sample).

Psychological impact of systemic training failure on mental health and career satisfaction of UK trainees: lessons from an online attitudes survey.

Aims: This study aims to evaluate the psychological and career-planning impact of the new postgraduate training system Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) on junior doctor applicants in the UK. We hypothesized that certain junior doctor groups were more vulnerable to distress during the process than others.

Method: Online, anonymous, cross-sectional attitudes survey of applicants in June 2007.

International medical graduates in the National Health Service.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has benefited from the skills of foreign qualified doctors for many years. International medical graduates (IMGs) - that is, those doctors with primary medical qualifications outside the European Economic Area (EEA) - have come to the UK despite the significant personal and financial costs, alongside the burden of taking the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) examination. Despite the costs and increasing indications that the UK job market was becoming saturated with the increased indigenous medical school output and expansion of the EEA, doctors still migrate to the UK in their thousands (McGinn, 2005).