Trainee doctors make key choices about long term direction soon after Foundation training, so knowing how to explore, decide and follow through options is important.

These pages are here to help you work through the four key stages of medical career planning and decision-making, outlined by the "The Roads to Success" model (Elton, C. & Reid, J., 2009):

• Self assessment (taking a history)
• Career exploration (examination and options)
• Decision making (forming a detailed diagnosis)
• Plan implementation (following through the treatment plan)

There are signposts and resources to help with any stage of your career thinking, whether you are Decided about your path, Exploring options or Rethinking the plan. Click on the Careers Resources icon on the right to find our quick navigation guide  to people, websites and publications with relevant information. You can click on either the resource name or an icon to link straight through it.

The medical careers section of the UK health careers website is a good starting point for information on all aspects of medical careers and we strongly recommend that you visit this too.