Perception of congenital cardiac surgery as a career choice among cardiothoracic surgery trainees in the United Kingdom

OBJECTIVES Our goal was to evaluate interest among trainees in pursuing congenital cardiac surgery (CCS) as a sub-specialty career and probe for reasons in decline in interest. METHODS An anonymized, voluntary survey of cardiothoracic surgical trainees across the United Kingdom and Ireland was conducted from October 2020 to December 2020. The questionnaire included demographics, congenital experience and career intentions. RESULTS A total of 43 respondents from all training regions responded with a response rate of 36%. A total of 28% reported having no access to a congenital cardiac unit in their training region, reflecting that 4 out of the 14 regions do not have a congenital unit. Although only 18% of trainees have undertaken a placement, a large proportion (74%) have considered a career in CCS, predominantly (50%) before entering training or in the first half of the training programme (38%). Reasons for not pursuing included discouragement by colleagues (42%) and concerns regarding the training pathway, citing, among other reasons, length of training, limited exposure to operations and uncertainty about career progression. Respondents suggested improvements to the training programme, including increasing exposure and early mentoring and steps to dispel unduly negative perceptions about the specialty. CONCLUSIONS A large proportion of cardiothoracic trainees have a negative perception of CCS in terms of career and training. Interest wanes substantially after entry into the United Kingdom cardiothoracic training programme for several reasons. As well as short-term measures to improve exposure to CCS and structure of training, there has to be long-term planning to improve perception about this sub-specialty at all levels.