Career attitudes of preclinical medical students to the medical specialties

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the attitudes of preclinical medical students to various specialties. It specifically aimed to measure a range of attitudes to nine medical specialties, by nearly 200 students. Multivariate analysis showed that the scale has various interpretable dimensions which measured such things as the way the specialty is taught in medical school, the recognized efficacy of treatment, type of patients, etc. Univariate analysis revealed numerous significant differences between the subjects' perceptions of the different specialties. It was concluded that the questionnaire provided a reliable, robust and valid instrument for the measurement of medical student attitudes to any or all specialties and may be particularly useful for research in this field.

Medical students' perceptions of pathology and the effect of the second-year pathology course

“…In addition, the best and worst features listed on our survey are consistent with previous studies of medical students [3]. One important negative feature not seen in our study but well documented in studies of both those that ultimately enter pathology [1] and those who do not [1,3] is the presence of the mandatory fifth year. In these studies, the negative effect of the additional year of training ranked just below limited patient contact.…”

“…Although there have been attempts to ascertain why firstyear residents chose pathology [1,2], broad studies assessing medical students' attitudes toward multiple specialties [3], and even more in-depth studies focusing on students' attitudes toward radiology [4,5], psychiatry [6], obstetrics/ gynecology [7], or pediatrics [8], there has not been an indepth study of medical students' attitudes toward pathology.…”

Like father, like son? Familial aggregation of physicians among medical and psychology students

“…It is interesting to speculate about the likely underlying factors for such a pattern. Although no pertinent information was collected in the present research, it is well-known that general perceptions of the medical profession as a whole are characterized by elevated social prestige in the general population, expectable earnings that are above-average, and thus high monetary returns of educational investment (Furnham 1986). These and other related points may well constitute salient factors for the existence of a particularly high familial aggregation within medicine, relative to other health-related professions (cf.…”

“…Also, study progress in this group has been found to be less favorable than in students with medical relatives (Haidet et al 2002;Klink et al 2008). Among other findings, accounts on the sociology and history of the medical profession especially evidence the high social prestige and status this profession enjoys in the general population (Furnham 1986). Discernible prestige and status differences are even found within the medical profession, as there are notable differences between medical undergraduates' most preferred medical speciality for their own future career and the respective distribution of medical specialties found in the physician population (Voracek et al 2001).…”

Students’ conceptions of the medical profession; an interview study

“…Underwood et al (1990) also found significant gaps in knowledge of first-year medical students regarding their future working conditions, as 'on-call' duties, pay rate and career structure. Furnham (1986), however, found that preclinical students have strong beliefs about some characteristics of medical specialties, such as the scientific credibility, the kind of patient relationships, the kind of thinking used by the specialist (fuzzy thinker or not), the effectiveness of the specialty or the extent to which the specialty is intellectually demanding. To their surprise even students with only casual acquaintance with specialties tended to have relative complex and coherent beliefs about these specialties.…”