The recruitment legacy of COVID-19

Abstract

The proportionally enormous amount of time lost directly affects many of the clearly identified factors attracting students to the field such as placement and elective exposure.3 There have recently been some targeted strategies implemented by the Royal College of Psychiatry to try and improve recruitment – especially the ‘Choose Psychiatry’ campaign – these outreach programmes might serve to be a much-needed lifeline more than ever before. There is a growing recognition that although it may appear to be minutiae relative to the scale of a global pandemic, COVID-19 could have a profound effect on the career progressions of a generation of doctors.5 Only by addressing this early and actively can we mitigate potential disaster for years to come. Declaration of interest None. 1 Choudry A, Farooq S. Systematic review into factors associated with the recruitment crisis in psychiatry in the UK: students’, trainees’ and consultants’ views.