Understanding patterns of career choices in medicine is important for educators and policy-makers to plan the supply of specialists. This study analysed the career choices made by medical students and house officers in 2 private and 2 public medical schools in Karachi, Pakistan. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was completed by 850 students. Internal medicine, paediatrics, general surgery and obstetrics and gynaecology were the 4 highest ranked specialties, with internal medicine ranked top as both the 1st and 2nd choice. Internal medicine was the 1st choice for significantly more students in public than private medical colleges (22.2% versus 14.9%). Students from private medical institutions chose a wider range of specialties than those from publicly-funded colleges. A high proportion of medical students and graduates in Karachi favour the same medical specialties, which may lead to saturation in those areas of specialization.

Background and objectives: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is the most common medical condition in the neonates. About 60% of term and 80% of preterm infants develop jaundice during 1st week of life. The objectives of the study were to assess knowledge and attitude of nurses toward hyperbilirubinemia , and to find out whether there were any relationships between nurses knowledge and attitude with sociodemographic data. Subjects and methods: A descriptive, cross sectional study was done all nurses (n=166) working in the neonatal intensive care units and different departments in governmental hospitals in Duhok governorate has been recruited to the study during the period started from 1 st May to 1 st August 2019. Results: The study revealed that the majority of nurses had fair knowledge about concepts, definition of phototherapy 98 (59%), causes 78 (47%), Intervention of bilirubin level and steps of management 125 (75.3%), side effects 106 (63.9). While 98.8% of nurses had good knowledge regarding clinical manifestations 164 (98.8%), Investigations 137 (82.5%), complications 78 (47.0%) and Nursing care 159 (95.8%). It also found that there was a significant relationship between demographic data and nurses' knowledge. Moreover, 145 (87.3%) of nurses held neutral attitude toward neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Finally, the study found a significant relationship between attitude and demographic factors. Conclusions: The study concludes that nurses working in Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric wards had fair knowledge regarding concepts, causes, steps of management, side effects of phototherapy and good knowledge regarding clinical manifestations, investigations, complications and nursing care. Furthermore, nurses held neutral attitude towards neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.