Which Specialty Makes The Happiest Doctors?

Are doctors happy? Do doctors have free time? Different types of doctors you come across during medical school or foundation programme will have different opinions on this matter; some will tell you the life of a doctor is riddled with stress and suggest dropping out while you still can, whereas others may say they cannot think of a more fulfilling career.

With such bipolar opinions, it is only natural for you to feel confused and look up “best doctors careers” or “how to choose a specialty” on Google. Fortunately, this guide is designed to provide you with clarity on the happiest doctor specialties for trainees as well as consultants.

The Data on Job Satisfaction

Components of job satisfaction include factors such as working hours, workload, risk of burnout, and the ability to maintain a good lifestyle; doctors’ salaries are irrelevant to these reports as all NHS doctors are paid a standard base salary, and money is therefore not motivator to pursue a certain medical specialty.

Information and data provided in this article is based on the latest available General Medical Council (GMC) National Training Surveys and workforce census reports from the Royal Colleges in the UK. Note that these do not provide exact numbers regarding overall satisfaction for individual specialties.

For a rounder picture of the different components of satisfaction, you may want to access the raw data from the annual GMC survey from 2018 and 2019, which is accessible on their website.

General Practice

It is often said the quality of life of a GP remains unparalleled among all doctors, and this is not necessarily an exaggeration. You may in fact remember that one GP you knew during your medical training who was always away on a fun holiday.

Furthermore, being a GP does not only offer flexible working hours and conditions, allowing you to maximise time spent on your personal life, but also make you a respected member in your community.

Hospital Specialties

NHS Junior Doctor Job Satisfaction

If the profession of a GP is not in line with your ambitions, there is still a diverse pool of hospital specialties to choose from. Specialties are ranked in order from highest to lowest satisfaction in the table below.

Table 1 Specialty training programmes ranked by satisfaction (based on RCP census 2015).

NHS Consultant Job Satisfaction

Quite often doctors find themselves unhappy through their specialty training, but end up enjoying their job once they commence work as consultants. The opposite may also be true for many specialties.

As such, the satisfaction rate for consultants differs from specialty training satisfaction. Consultant job satisfaction is ranked from highest to lowest in the table below.

Rank

Specialty

% of consultants who enjoy their job

Sports and exercise medicine

100

Medical ophthalmology

Rehabilitation medicine

90-94

Hepatology

Clinical neurophysiology

80-89

Audiovestibular medicine

Allergy

Renal medicine

Haematology

Palliative care

Rheumatology

Clinical genetics

Metabolic medicine

Cardiology

Stroke medicine

70-79

Dermatology

Genitourinary medicine

Geriatric medicine

Acute internal medicine

Endocrinology and diabetes mellitus

Paediatric cardiology

Gastroenterology

General internal medicine

Infectious disease and tropical medicine

Respiratory medicine

Medical oncology

Neurology

Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics

Nuclear medicine

65-69

Immunology

Table 2 Specialties ranked by consultant satisfaction (based on RCP census 2015).

Satisfaction vs Workload

Having glanced through the provided information, it may come to no surprise to you that there is a close correlation between workload and job satisfaction. Therefore, workload and risk of burnout may be key factors you may want to enquire about before deciding which specialty to opt for as a career.

Nonetheless, this is only a guide based on survey data and is in no way meant to dissuade you from pursuing a particular specialty. The best way to find out whether a specialty is suited for your personality type and priorities in life is to form networks with doctors in your specialty of interest and have a chat with them about their day-to-day life.

References

2014-15 Census (UK Consultant and Higher Specialty Trainees). Royal College of Physicians. Available from: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/2014-15-census-uk-consultants-and-higher-specialty-trainees
National Training Survey – Initial Findings Report 2019. General Medical Council. Available From: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/national-training-surveys-initial-findings-report-2019_pdf-84390391.pdf
National Training Survey – Initial Findings Report 2018. General Medical Council. Available From: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/dc11391-nts-2018-initial-findings-report_pdf-75268532.pdf

4. Gregory S, Demartini C. Satisfaction of doctors with their training: evidence from the UK. BMC Health Serv Res 2017;17:851. doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2792-0