Factors considered by undergraduate medical students when selecting specialty of their future careers
نویسندگان
چکیده
INTRODUCTION Medical students are the source of a country's physicians. Determining how medical students select their areas of specialization is the key to achieve a balanced distribution of doctors among all specialties. The objective is to identify the number of medical students who have decided their postgraduate specialty career, their career specialties preference, and factors that may influence their decision to select a particular specialty. METHODS A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2013 at Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire comprising demographic data and questions about future specialties preferences and factors influencing those preferences was distributed to 887 male and female students, (from first to fifth academic years) recruited in the study. RESULTS Response rate was 73% with 647 questionnaires collected, out of 887 eligible medical students. Of the returned questionnaires, 604 were valid. The majority of students (541, 89.6%) have chosen a specialty. Surgery, medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology were the most selected specialties. The least selected specialty was anaesthesiology. A significant association was found between gender and specialty choice using Chi-square test (p = 0.00). There was no association between undergraduate level and specialty choice (p = 0.633). The most common reason for choosing a specific specialty was "Personal Interest" (215, 39.7%) followed by being "Helpful to the community" (144, 26.6%). CONCLUSION Surgery, medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology were the most selected specialties.
منابع مشابه
Investigating the Relationship between Personality Dimensions in Selecting a Field Specialty for Medical Students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences
Introduction: selecting a specialty is one of the most difficult decision of medical practitioners, and this selection depends on personal factors, such as motives and dimensions of personality traits. Therefore, this study investigates relation between of dimensions of Personality traits on selecting the specialty for Medical Students of Mashhad University of Medical SciencesMethods: This cros...
متن کاملResearch Trend, Career Preferences and its Effective Factors among Undergraduate Medical Students in Jinnah Sind Medical University, Pakistan
Background: Research at undergraduate and graduate level is important in deciding career fields and future profession. The undergraduate studies are greatly enriched by doing research work. This study assess research trends among medical students by evaluating their research career choices, factors influencing their research career preferences and future plans at Jinnah Sind Medical University ...
متن کاملChoosing a Medical Specialty: Factors Considered by Iranian General Practitioners
Background: For medical students, the selection of a specialty is one of the most critical decisions to be made. On a personal level, it determines lifetime career achievements and, for the community, it directly affects the outcome of public health programs. The aim of this study was to investigate which factors were more important among Iranian residents when considering a specialty. Methods:...
متن کاملFactors affecting future specialty choice among medical students in Kuwait
BACKGROUND Choosing a medical specialty can be either a daunting and confusing experience for some medical students and junior doctors or a foregone conclusion to others. The aim of this study is to evaluate factors affecting future specialty choice among medical students in Kuwait University. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from medical students registered ...
متن کاملMedical Students' Perceptions of Emergency Medicine Careers
Introduction Previous studies on specialty choice have investigated specialty characteristics that are appealing to undergraduate students. Little is known about how students' attitudes towards Emergency Medicine (EM) careers evolve over their schooling. Methods An open-ended survey of medical students' career interests was distributed five times over the four-year undergraduate curriculum from...
متن کامل