A surgeon has sparked a debate after suggesting admin staff should be roped in when practices are recruiting new registrars or doctors, as they can spot the ‘non-pathological’ candidates.

Dr Carrie Kollias, a Canadian paediatric surgeon now living in Australia, took to social media to share her opinion on recruitment, which she admitted was “unpopular” in medical and surgical circles.

“When selecting future trainees and colleagues, if you want to know who the non-pathological candidates are, just ask the secretaries,” she wrote.

“Yeah, they know.”