ObjectivesTo study early and eventual career choices for nephrology among UK medical graduates and investigate factors which influenced career preferences.DesignSelf-completed survey questionnaires mailed to medical graduates 1, 3, 5 and 10 years after graduation.SettingUnited Kingdom.ParticipantsUK medical graduates in 15 year-of-qualification cohorts between 1974 and 2015.Main outcome measuresEarly career specialty choices, career specialty destinations at 10 years and ratings of factors affecting career choices.ResultsAround 0.4%–1.1% of these junior doctors expressed a career preference for nephrology, varying by year of qualification and years after qualification. Among all graduates of 1993–2002 combined, 0.4% expressed a career preference for nephrology 1 year after qualification rising to 1.0% in year 5. Among graduates of 2005–2008, the corresponding figures were 1.0% in year 1 falling to 0.7% in year 5. Only 18% of doctors who chose nephrology in year 1 eventually became nephrologists. Of doctors who were practising as nephrologists for 10 years and more after qualification, 74% of the women and 56% of the men had decided to pursue a career in nephrology by year 5 after qualification. ‘Enthusiasm/commitment’ had a great deal of influence on those who chose nephrology, for all cohorts and all years studied.ConclusionsThe most recent data suggest that the proportion of young doctors who sustain an interest in nephrology through the early postgraduate training years may be lower than among their predecessors. Efforts are needed to reverse the declining trend and increase interest in nephrology.

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Objective To report UK-trained doctors' career choices for dermatology, career destinations, and factors influencing career pathways. Methods Multicohort multipurpose longitudinal surveys of UK-trained doctors who graduated between 1974 and 2015. Results In all, 40,412 doctors (58% of graduates) responded in year 1, 31,466 (64%) in year 3, and 24,970 (67%) in year 5. One year after graduation, 1.7% of women and 0.6% of men made dermatology their first choice but by five years after graduation the respective figures were 1.0% and 0.7%. Compared to their predecessors, its popularity fell more substantially from years 1 to 5 among recent graduates (2005–15), particularly for women (from 2.1% in year 1 to 0.8% in year 5) compared with a fall from 0.8% to 0.5% among men. The most important factor influencing dermatology choice was “hours/working conditions”: in year one, 69% regarded this as important compared with 31% of those choosing other hospital physician specialties. Only 18% of respondents who chose dermatology at year 1 eventually worked in it; however, almost all practising dermatologists (94%), 10 years after qualifying, had made their future career decision by year 5. Conclusion Dermatology is popular among female UK graduates. Most dermatologists made their career decision late but decisively.

International Journal of Health Promotion and Education Parents' voices: perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to prevent unintentional home injuries among young children Background: Young children face injury as a potentially life-threatening problem. Injury still has considerable financial, emotional and social effects on families and society as a whole. A variety of interventions are known to prevent child injuries. The literature, however, provides meagre information on what factors enable or inhibit the implementation of these interventions for controlling home injuries in Iran.Methods: Qualitative study using eighteen semi-structured interviews with parents attending urban health centres in Tehran City. The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Factors believed to influence the prevention of home injuries among urban children aged under 5 years are presented as five major themes. These were: the nature of injury and injury prevention, child-related factors, parentrelated factors, living environment and society-related factors. Conclusions:The findings highlighted the need for greater support for parents.Half of the parents were struggling with barriers such as money and time. The study has implications for further research and practice to promote child safety at home.

Background The rapidly rising rates of brain diseases due to the growing ageing population and the explosion in treatment options for many neurological conditions increase the demand for neurologists. We report trends in doctors’ career choices for neurology; investigate factors driving their choices; and compare doctors’ original choices with their specialty destinations. Methods A multi-cohort, multi-purpose nation-wide study using both online and postal questionnaires collected data on career choice, influencing factors, and career destinations. UK-trained doctors completed questionnaires at one, three, five, and ten years after qualification. They were classified into three groups: graduates of 1974–1983, graduates of 1993–2002, and graduates of 2005–2015. Results Neurology was more popular among graduates of 2005–2015 than earlier graduates; however, its attraction for graduates of 2005–2015 doctors reduced over time from graduation. A higher percentage of men than women doctors chose neurology as their first career choice. For instance, among graduates of 2005–2015, 2.2% of men and 1.1% of women preferred neurology as first choice in year 1. The most influential factor on career choice was “enthusiasm for and commitment to the specialty” in all cohorts and all years after graduation. Only 39% who chose neurology in year 1 progressed to become neurologists later. Conversely, only 28% of practicing neurologists in our study had decided to become neurologists in their first year after qualification. By year 3 this figure had risen to 65%, and by year 5 to 76%. Conclusions Career decision-making among UK medical graduates is complicated. Early choices for neurology were not highly predictive of career destinations. Some influential factors in this process were identified. Improving mentoring programmes to support medical graduates, provide career counselling, develop professionalism, and increase their interest in neurology were suggested. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-019-1650-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.