The career plans of Irish interns: results of a national survey.

In anticipation of major changes in medical manpower in Ireland, we surveyed all interns about their career plans. Three hundred (65% of those surveyed) responded. There were clear gender differences in career plans and overall, only 15% planned a career in general practice. There was a negative perception about the quality of postgraduate training in Ireland and 93% planned to go overseas for training. These findings need to influence the debate on medical manpower and postgraduate training.