Medical students&amp;apos; choice of specialty and factors determining their choice: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey in Melaka-Manipal Medical College, Malaysia

Chew, Yu Wei; Rajakrishnan, Sudeash; Low, Chin Aun; Jayapalan, Prakash Kumar; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T

doi:10.5582/bst.2011.v5.2.69

Cited by 23 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Many studies have been done regarding the choices of specialty and factors influencing them in undergraduate medical students and junior doctors, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] who have less experience regarding the clinical exposure and, most of the times choices made are temporary and are liable to change as their medical education continues. 12 Similar result was seen in our study, among those who had specialty choice at the beginning of the MBBS, 52% has changed the specialty choice during the entrance of postgraduate study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Next point for choosing Internal Medicine for postgraduate studies may be because it has more choices for super-specialization. 2 Another explanation may be the increased awareness of the growing burden of chronic diseases (communicable as well as non-communicable). In our study general practice was one of the least preferred specialties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results were consistent with studies done in various parts of the world. [1][2][3]12 The possible reason behind male participants choosing Orthopaedics and General Surgery may be the result of cultural thinking that males are thought to be the gender with strong will power and daring to take strong decisions during the work. In contrast, though having busy schedules,…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Factors influencing the choices of preferred specialty are complex and decision making is affected by more than one factor most of the time. 2 The factors which affected the most in choosing the specialty are variable: job satisfaction, personality and lifestyle of seniors, inspiration from teaching faculty, challenging nature of specialty, prestige of specialty, personal interest, financial status, serving the sick, career stability and income. 1,2,12,28,29 In our study Personal Interest in the specialty, Secure and having Scope in Future, Good Doctor Patient relationship and Work Satisfaction were the highly significant factors which are similar to the study done in Nepal, 12 except for workload flexibility which was highly significant in our study but not in the study done by Hayes and Shakya, 12 whereas, Illness of self/ family/ friend, Influence of Family, Influence of faculty / Role Model, Desire to serve in rural / underserved area, Dislike direct interaction with patients and Influence of Books/ Films were the least influencing factors for deciding to make a choice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Medical graduates can be seen as multi-potent 'stem doctors'; specialization turns them into fullydifferentiated specialists. 2 The clinical experiences along with sociocultural values, 4 have a major impact on the decision about education after undergraduate studies. 5 The reasons why medical students choose their careers are complex, 9 and still remain partially understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Determinants of Postgraduate Students' Choices of Speciality

Shrestha¹,

Pokhrel²,

Butterworth³

2016

J Nepal Med Assoc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Postgraduate specialization is perceived as essential for success with high competition for enrolment. The reasons how medical students choose their postgraduate specialty are complex. Understanding the factors that influence career choice helps in workforce planning. So, we tried to identify the specialty preferred by postgraduate students and the factors that influenced these choices in a post graduate institution.Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in National Academy of Medical Sciences. All the postgraduate students of batch 2011 AD were enrolled for the study. The responses were rated on a five point Likert scale.Results: Significant gender preference was observed in specialties. General Surgery, Internal Medicine and Orthopedics were chosen by male students (P-Values, respectively, 0.001, 0.033 and 0.000) while Obstetrics and Gynecology and Ophthalmology being chosen by female students (P-Values, respectively, 0.000 and 0.006). Significant difference was observed between male and female student responses to the factor – scope in future (P – value 0.042), between married and unmarried students to the factor – workload flexibility (P – value 0.011), students who tried to go abroad versus who didn’t, for the factor – Illness of self/family/friend (P – value 0.016), and between those who worked in rural area versus those who didn’t, to the factor – Influence of friends/ seniors (P – value 0.038).Conclusions: Various factors affect the choices for preferred specialty. Policy makers should look at the needs of the nation, and ensure that specialty postgraduate education programs reflect those needs. Keywords: career choices; likert scale; medical education; postgraduate specialty. | PubMed

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Determinants of Postgraduate Students' Choices of Speciality

Shrestha¹,

Pokhrel²,

Butterworth³

2016

J Nepal Med Assoc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

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

Khamees

Awadi

Sharie

et al. 2022

Annals of Medicine &Amp; Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Diversity in the specialties is essential to provide optimal health care. 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. Therefore, there has been a deeper interest in the issues of career preference among medical students. We aimed to determine and assess the factors perceived to be significantly attractive when choosing a future specialty. Materials and methods A cross-sectional-based study was conducted among undergraduate medical students from all of the medical schools in Jordan from April to September 2021. The data was collected using a structured online questionnaire through social media platforms and completed by 1556 students. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section included the sociodemographic data of the participants, while the other two sections included questions about future specialty and the factors that influence the student's choice. Informed consent was taken from the participants. Results Of the participants, (64%) were female. The mean age of the students was 20.9 years. Regarding the future specialty, 664 students (42.7%) preferred surgery as future specialty (females = 364, males = 300). While 505 students (32.5%) preferred specialty in medicine (females = 365, males = 140). Moreover, 349 students had no decision until now regarding their future specialty (females = 238, males = 111). Generally, the surgical specialty was the most preferred specialty, while the basic science specialty was the least preferred. Specialty in medicine and surgery was the most preferred specialty among females and males respectively. Conclusion Surgery in general was the most popular specialty among medical students. Other common choices were neurosurgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The more attractive factors were the appeal of being in the specialty, the influence on patient's lives, the potential for patient interactions and the high income. While the least attractive factor was having a long-term relationship with the patients.

show abstract