Surgical trainees’ attitudes to specialization in breast surgery

Background:  Subspecialization in general surgery is being encouraged by various surgical societies. The aim of this study was to view attitudes of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) trainees to subspecialization in surgery, in particular, breast ­surgery.Methods:  A postal questionnaire survey of registered RACS basic and advanced surgical trainees was conducted in February 2002. Trainees were asked to nominate their preferred specialty and to indicate the level of support and interest for subspecialty training in breast surgery. Trainees indicating breast surgery as their preferred career choice were then asked to nominate their reasons for choosing breast surgery, preferred options for cross‐specialty training and for vocation specifications such as a continuing ‘on‐call’ responsibility.Results:  Trainees returned 291 of 1049 (28%) completed questionnaires. One hundred and sixty‐nine trainees felt that the concept of breast subspecialization in general surgery was reasonable (58%). For all respondents, the most popular specialty choices were plastic surgery (15.8%), orthopaedics (15.5%) and general surgery (15.4%). Breast surgery was chosen by 14 of 291 (4.8%) respond