Diagnosing the doctors' departure: survey on sources of dissatisfaction among Irish junior doctors.

There has been a significant decline in the number of applications for non-consultant hospital doctor (NCHD) posts in Ireland over the last 18 months. We conducted an online, anonymous survey of Irish NCHDs to establish levels of satisfaction, sources of dissatisfaction and the major reasons for junior doctors seeking work abroad. 522 NCHDs took the survey, including 64 (12.3%) currently working outside of the Republic. 219 (45.8%) were slightly dissatisfied and 142 (29.7%) were extremely dissatisfied with practising medicine in Ireland. Major sources of dissatisfaction included the state of the health care system, staffing cover for leave and illness, the dearth of consultant posts and the need to move around Ireland. The most important reason for NCHDs wishing to leave was to seek better training and career opportunities abroad.