Determinants of the Medical Speciality Choice of Residents at University Hospital

Abstract

Choosing a medical specialty involves multifactorial components and is personally and socially important, determining professional performance and satisfaction. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the factors related to the choice of medical specialty of residents at University Hospital of the Federal University of Piauí (HU-UFPI) from 2014 to 2016. We used electronic questionnaire to evaluate the residents. Residents who either refused to participate of the survey or dropped out of medical residency were excluded. 86 questionnaires were sent. The response rate was 73.2%. According to the survey 74.6% were single at admission to medical residency; 87.1% were childless; 55.6% were 25-30 years old when started their residency. 60.3% of the residents chose HU-UFPI medical residency program due to the quality of education offered by the institution. Such factors may explain differences in medical specialty distribution and how those choices affect healthcare dynamics. The main domain of reasons that influenced the choice of medical specialty was "preference and personal identification". The least influential domain in the choice of medical residency was "educational system. Thus, multiple factors affect medical residents' choice of specialty. Such factors may be used to understand differences in medical specialty distribution and how those choices affect healthcare dynamics.Keywords: medical education, medical residency, medical specialty IntroductionThe choice of medical specialty involves multifactorial components and is personally and socially important, determining professional performance and satisfaction. The factors analyzed in this choice include variables intrinsic and extrinsic to the physician (Sousa, 2014).Conditions related to student life, that is, relating to the academic period, and not only to the student's professional skills and preferences, are among these factors (Wright et al, 2004;Takeda et al, 2013).New trends in the choice of medical specialty have been observed worldwide, with declines in the choice of some medical specialties and increases in others. Several factors account for this variation, including controllable lifestyle, compensation, study time, educator models and others (Sousa, 2014;Cooper, 2016).Controllable lifestyle specialties include the following: anesthesiology, dermatology, neurology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, pathology, psychiatry, radiology and medical emergency. These specialties have been increasingly chosen by medical students, as shown since 1989 (Wright et al, 2004). Conversely, non-controllable lifestyle specialties, including gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, orthopedics and urology, have been increasingly chosen over controllable lifestyle specialties (Starfield et al, 2005;Knox et al, 2008; Xu, 2015;Saigal et al, 2013). This trend has been sustained in recent decades.Most non-controllable lifestyle specialties compose the primary level of healthcare (gynecology and obstetrics, family medicine, in...