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Objectives To examine factors influencing promotion to hospital consultant. Design Multivariate logistic regression analysis of NHS administrative data between 1991 and 2000. Setting Hospitals in NHS Scotland. Population All registrars, senior registrars, and specialist registrars in Scotland. Main outcome measure The proportion of doctors promoted to NHS consultant. Results Compared with doctors who graduated in Scotland, graduates from the rest of the United Kingdom and from overseas were less likely to be promoted to consultant (odds ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.82; and 0.37, 0.28 to 0.50, respectively). Promotion and holding an honorary contract before promotion were positively associated (1.37, 1.03 to 1.83); and the number of years since graduation (5.98 per year, 4.94 to 7.23). Women were less likely to be promoted (0.73, 0.60 to 0.90), as were doctors who worked part time (0.27, 0.17 to 0.42). Probabilities of promotion did not have a clear time trend between 1993 and 2000, and NHS boards in non-metropolitan areas of Scotland were more likely to offer promotions than NHS boards in metropolitan areas, presumably reflecting a higher gap between demand and supply in these boards. Conclusion As the proportion of women in hospital medicine increases, government targets for the recruitment of consultants are unlikely to be met unless the promotion process is examined. It is unclear whether more recent reforms of the medical career structure will deal with these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Women in medicine: continuing unequal status of women may reduce the influence of the profession," by I. Heath in the August 21, 2004 issue.

Editorial. Looks at the decline in the supply of medical students in the United Kingdom in spite of the expansion of medical schools. Admissions statistics; Decline in the popularity of medicine as a career; Increase of women applicants; Qualifications needed to apply for medical school.

The article focuses on a report which examined the status of women in the medical profession in Great Britain and which was written by the women in academic medicine project. The report found that women attempting to develop a career in medicine in Great Britain continue to face a dominant male club culture, exclusion and a lack of support. The authors of the report stated that despite the fact that women in the country have made up 40% of medical graduates since 1988 and account for 60% of medical students, they are still under-represented in the university sector.

The author reflects on the question of whether there are too many female medical school graduates in Great Britain. She suggests that there are not and that medicine needs and wants to attract the best and brightest people regardless of their sex. She argues that because some patients want to see the same sex doctor as themselves medicine should have equal numbers of male and female physicians.

The author reflects on the question of whether there are too many female medical school graduates in Great Britain. He suggests that there are and that too many female graduates are bad for medicine, just as too many male ones have been in the past. He argues that women doctors tend to concentrate in a few specialties regarded as family friendly and tend not to become involved in certain specialties.

The article presents a letter to the editor of the "British Medical Journal" regarding women physicians in Great Britain.

Focuses on Dr. Jo Hilborne, chairwoman of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, who believes that private companies have no incentive to give high quality training to physicians. Concern that doctors will not be trained to National Health Service standards; Comment of Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, about the interdependency of service and training.

Presents the author's reflections on the role of women in medicine. View that the attitude toward women in medicine has changed since the 1950s. Experiences of discouragement and criticism from others during the author's years as a medical student; Experiences of sex discrimination during the author's early career; Reflections on women's current position in the medical field.

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Women in medicine: continuing unequal status of women may reduce the influence of the profession," by I. Heath in the August 21, 2004 issue.

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Women in medicine: continuing unequal status of women may reduce the influence of the profession," by I. Heath in the August 21, 2004 issue.

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Women in medicine: continuing unequal status of women may reduce the influence of the profession," by I. Heath in the August 21, 2004 issue.

Presents a women physician's discovery of empathy following her own painful marital breakup. How for the first time she felt what stress actually does to the body; Discovery of a new ability to communicate with patients who face loss; How she allowed her patients to help her heal; The truth discovered in tired cliches; Self-help reading; Her appreciation of belonging to a profession where she is an important part of her patient's lives.

Presents news briefs related to medical research and public health as of August 2004. Report that pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough has pleaded guilty and agreed to a settlement for overcharging Medicaid, the U.S. government health program for poor people; Comments made by Carol Black, the president of the United Kingdom's Royal College of Physicians, regarding the number of women physicians; Guidelines from the Department of Health for England regarding the provision of advice on contraception and sexual and reproductive health by health professionals to someone aged under 16; Others.

Discusses how careers in obstetrics and gynaecology are dominated by women. Role of women in medicine; Finding that women will soon form the majority in medicine; Retirement age of obstetricians.

Presents an obituary for Professor Soromini Kallichurum, who was thought to be a role model for South African students and academics. Perception that Kallichurum broke down barriers for women to succeed in the academic profession; Way that Kallichurum became the first non-white and first woman to be appointed dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Natal; Topic of medical schools during apartheid in the 1980s.

Presents an obituary for Margaret Angus Patterson, who served as a medical missionary in India. Success of Patterson in medicine in spite of being a woman; Establishment of medical clinics in India by Patterson; Discovery of Patterson that electro-acupuncture analgesia following surgery could ameliorate the symptoms of opiate withdrawal; Work of Patterson in electromedicine to treat drug users.

Argues that the British health service needs to offer more flexible working conditions to attract and retain women doctors in all branches of hospital medicine. Under-representation of women in the acute medical specialties, in academia, and in senior hospital posts; Indication that women, and some men, would like to work part-time to improve the balance between their professional and family lives; Suggestion that without change women will give up or achieve less than their potential.

Profiles women's health advocate Dr. Nafis Sadik. Highlights of her career as an obstetrician with the United Nations Population Fund; Overview of Sadik's impact on the international discussion of contraception, abortion, and female genital mutilation; Outlook for her retirement at the end of 2000.