This study investigated types of career choice in high school students and examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of 2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p < .01), for example junior college or vocational school in comparison to boys. Career indecision, i.e. students who could not set a concrete future career in high school, had significantly more negative time perspective than other groups (p < .05), which was caused by a deficiency of their basic cognitive ability. Longitudinal data showed different patterns of fluctuation in time perspective between “school to school transition” and “school to work transition”. It is suggested that the “school to work transition” tends to be more critical for adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time perspectives during the graduation transition.

Gender differences in choice of studies emerge already in adolescence. Two studies with adolescents are presented, the goal of which is to explore the influence of gender by assessing males and females who choose studies related to Medicine or Engineering. Study 1, correlational (N = 330, mean age 15.9, 56.7% girls), shows that girls who choose technology are more poorly appraised than girls who choose other studies. Study 2 (N = 130; mean age 16.77, 56.2% girls), experimental, measures implicit attitudes (using the IAT) towards males and females from Medicine and Engineering. Implicit attitudes are more favorable towards women if they are studying Medicine and towards men if they study Engineering. The results are analyzed with relation to the percentages of boys and girls in the different fields of study.

The financial and social climate in which the residential-care sector operates in the United Kingdom has changed substantially over recent years. This paper examines the underlying motivations for providing residential-care services for older people. We focus on the motivations of a sample of managers and owners of care homes drawn from eight English local authorities, and explore the intrinsic aspects of their motivations, particularly professional achievement, recognition and job satisfaction. The majority of the respondents' primary motivations were to meet the needs of older people and to accomplish professional achievements. Their caring motivations had four principal components, which were labelled professional, financial, client-specific and client-generic, and as for their professional motivations, the interviewees reported high levels of job satisfaction. The respondents were satisfied with their career choice and felt that, through their work, they were contributing to society. The study identified several personal and external factors that influenced the providers' intrinsic motivations and professional aspirations. The presented evidence suggests that if future policies are to improve the quality of care-home services, it is essential that they also incorporate the professional needs of care-home providers.

Introduction: Due to the ‘modernizing medical careers’ changes, doctors with a firm career intention will be able to enter a speciality-specific training programme after their foundation years.

Materials and methods: A questionnaire was emailed to all 204 final year medical students at Newcastle Medical School asking about their ENT undergraduate experience and if they felt it was sufficient to consider a career in otolaryngology.

Results: One hundred and forty-four completed questionnaires (71 per cent) were returned, with respondents giving the following information: 54 per cent had had a formal ENT attachment (average seven and a half days); 24/144 (17 per cent) and 60/144 (42 per cent) respectively had not attended ENT clinic or theatre; less than 50 per cent had seen common ENT operations; 12/144 (8 per cent) had never heard of a septoplasty; two-thirds (24/36) of aspiring general practitioners had never seen a tonsillectomy or grommet insertion; and only 6/30 (20 per cent) of aspiring surgeons felt their ENT experience had been enough to consider the speciality as a career.

Discussion: Alternative methods of delivering an otolaryngology curriculum should be considered. We must promote otolaryngology to medical students at every opportunity.

Summary

Background and objective: Anaesthesiology is considered a stressful occupation. Our purpose was to assess stress and burnout among Portuguese anaesthesiologists. Methods: A cross-sectional survey based on an anonymous questionnaire was sent to all Portuguese anaesthesiologists registered by the Portuguese Medical Association. Data on patient characteristics and professional variables, perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), the subscale of work satisfaction of the Pressure Management Indicator scale, burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and main stress factors were collected. The proportion of participation was 31.8%. Results: The average value of perceived stress scale was 24.0 (range: 0–56). Among the 263 anaesthesiologists, 57.9% experienced emotional exhaustion, 44.8% lack of personal accomplishment and 90.9% depersonalisation. Lack of personal accomplishment increased with number of children among women but not among men; depersonalisation was more frequent among anaesthesiologists working in community hospitals and anaesthesiologists with leadership functions experienced less professional stress. Conclusion: There are stress conditions and burnout amongst Portuguese anaesthesiologists. The prevalence of depersonalisation was extremely high in the studied sample. Emotional exhaustion is partially explained by high perceived-stress and low satisfaction with organisation in the job according to Pressure Management Indicator scale.

Knowledge of the factors that inform the career choice of medical students may help plan the workforce for medical specialities. To determine which factors inform the career choice of medical students we carried out a survey of medical students at the start of their educational block in Otolaryngology. Of 202 questionnaires handed out 169 were returned (84 per cent). Students were asked to rank factors according to their importance in their career choice. The single most important factor was career progression. Other factors include on-call commitment, teachers as role models, and the interest for a particular subject. At the present time progression from senior house officer grade to specialist registrar grade in Otolaryngology is delayed. If this issue is not addressed the influx of applicants into Otolaryngology training programmes will be reduced, limiting the pool from which candidates can be chosen for a career in Otolaryngology.