Comparing physiciansʼ specialty interests upon entering medical school with their eventual practice specialties

Abstract

The stability of specialty choices of 519 graduates of the University of Washington School of Medicine were studied by means of a mail survey in 1986. The graduates' actual practice specialties were compared with the one or more specialties each had indicated as possible career specialty choices when they entered medical school. Nearly 70% of the graduates' early choices remained stable, double the percentage found by other studies that based stability on an entering medical student's single choice of a career specialty. The findings suggest that students entering medical school have in mind a variety of acceptable specialties and later are likely to choose one of these as a career.

Career choice of new medical students at three Canadian universities: family medicine versus specialty medicine

“…16,[18][19][20][21][22][23] Others have demonstrated that career preference at the time of entering medical school may be a significant predictor of students' eventual career choice. 4,[24][25][26] Colwill, for example, suggests that students usually see themselves as either generalists or specialists at the start of medical school. 27 Although there is movement during medical school between the desire to practise family medicine and the desire to practise specialty care, many students end up in careers that are closely related to their choice at the beginning of medical school.…”

Selection of Neurosurgical Trainees

“…Rankings of these characteristics ranged from not very important to essential (2-4) for team worker, good physical health and organized/systematic. Ability to be team leader and sense of humor had the lowest scores, ranging from not at all important to essential (1)(2)(3)(4).…”

“…Factors influencing those choices have been studied, as has the time at which career decisions are made. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Prior to 1993, surgical trainees in Canada did two years of "core" postgraduate training before entry into a surgical subspecialty. Most who chose neurosurgery as a career had rotations on neurosurgical services during the "core" period.…”

Who Wants to be a Surgeon? A Survey of Medical Students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya

“…Studies examining timing of career choices among medical students have suggested that career interests formed before entry into medical school may be predictive of eventual career choices (10,23,24). In the current study 57.1% of students who had selected surgery had interest in this career even before entry into medical school.…”