What ‘makes’ a good doctor?

The relation between gender, personality, school scores, grades at medical school and eventual achievement as a medical practitioner 8 years after qualifying has been explored by path analysis in a cohort of medical students. Factor analysis of data derived from a questionnaire identified a significant factor accounting for 75% of the common variance of the professional achievement scores. Standardized path coefficients were computed to indicate the relative importance of the causal factors to postgraduate achievement. Gender played an important role at many levels. For example it was apparent that many of our women graduates were seriously disadvantaged in their professional careers. Of the school subjects, chemistry was a surprising long-term predictor of postgraduate achievement. Academic achievement during medical school training, particularly in the final year, was a significant predictor, while personality attributes made their contribution to one or other aspect of achievement at earlier stages in training but made little additional direct contribution to postgraduate performance.