6th year medical students’ future specialty preferences: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Studying career preferences can help in designing and improving health service systems. Determining the preferred specialty and understanding the compulsion affecting specialty choice will provide clues to influence such choice in the future to shift the balance of specialties among practitioners. The current study aimed to determine medical students' preferable specialty choices and the factors influencing their choices and their attitude towards postgraduate medical education in Jordan and abroad. Materials and methods The descriptive cross-sectional study design included 6th-year medical students in medical faculties in Jordan. An online questionnaire was created on Google Forms and posted on platforms accessible by medical students at level six. Numbers and percentages were presented for all variables. Frequency distributions were also presented. Chi-square distribution was used to measure the association between categorical data. Alpha level of 0.05 was used. Results Most students 188 (74.3%) preferred to continue their post-graduate training abroad, while only 65 (25.7%) favored Jordan. 150 (59.3%) of the respondents are interested in the medical – non-surgical - specialties. The most important factor that encouraged the students to choose a specialty was Job opportunity (32.5%) followed by the number of years required to complete the training and the expected income (27.7%) each. Conclusion Supportive steps should be undertaken to motivate medical graduates toward the needed specialties. Moreover, local Specialty training programs need to be –reevaluated to ensure proper post graduate medical learning.

Factors affecting medical student's decision in choosing a future career specialty: A cross-sectional study

“…A study in Saudi Arabia showed similar results [ 17 ]. While a study among 6th year medical students in Jordan showed that more than half of the preferred medical specialties [ 1 ]. In addition, another study in Saudi Arabia reported that Internal medicine specialties were the most preferred [ 5 ].…”

“…In every country, the quality of health care is partly dependent on the number of available physicians in each specialty. Diversity in the specialties is essential to provide optimal health care [ 1 ]. Future career specialties chosen by the students had great significance for balanced doctor's distribution in different specialties, as it determines the composition of the physician workforce [ [2] , [3] , [4] ].…”

“…In Jordan, there are six medical schools now [ 1 ]. The first medical school was established in 1972 in the Jordanian University (JU).…”

Career Intentions and the Determining Factors among Health Science Students: A Systematic Review

“…Table 4 shows the factors influencing and inhibiting career choice. This review found that among medical students, medical specialties had the highest rate of choice followed closely by surgical specialties (Al-beitawi et al, 2021;Khamees et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2016). Among the medical specialties, internal medicine was the most preferred, while psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and public health received lesser attention (Khamees et al, 2022;Ossai et al, 2016;Milic et al, 2020;Kim et al, 2016;Bilal et al, 2018;Ubesie et al, 2014).…”

“…Al -beitawi et al, 2021;Khamees et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2016 ------------------------------Stanley et al ---------------------------------Obstetrics/ Gynecology 5.5-15.6 Khamees et al, 2022;Ossai et al, 2016;Ubesie et al, 2014 - --------------------------------Radiology 1.8 Khamees et al, 2022 -----------------------------Orthopedics 6.0-9 Khamees et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2016; Khamees et al, 2022;McCloskey et al, 2020;Ossai et al, 2016;Milic et al, 2020…”