Priorities, factors and alternatives involved in the choice of medical specialty – an empirical study on year sixth medical students

Abstract

Phenomenon. The process of career decision making by medical students has been the subject of many studies analyzing the choice. However, the studies have not analyzed determination of global priorities for the criteria of choice or alternatives regarding the choice of medical specialty. The goal of this paper is to determine the weights (priorities), factors and alternatives involved in the choice of specialty for year six medical students. Approach. A sample of 202 final-year medical students at the Medical University was examined using Saaty's Analytic Hierarchy Process. During interviews, the students used the Saaty's scale to pair various factors influencing their choice of medical specialty. Analysis was performed to evaluate the crucial decisive criteria and various decisive models. Findings. When choosing the medical specialty, the highest rank was given to "individual physician's aptitude and expected professional attainment" (P = 0.4748), followed by "the features of the medical specialty" (P = 0.3636) and "the process of training for the specialty" (P = 0.1616). The most important sub-criteria were "intellectual qualities and competencies useful in practicing the specialty", "place of work" and "opportunity to create one's own medical practice". A model of specialty choice was obtained. The most important criteria of choice were "opportunities for professional career in healthcare entities", "place of work", "opportunity to create one's own medical practice" and "expected income". Insights. Understanding the factors influencing choice of specialty enables workforce planning to meet local and national healthcare needs. It also helps optimize the profile of medical education courses offered by medical universities. The results obtained, although limited in their generalisability, may support organizing specific curricula and strategies to encourage the choice of specialties in short supply.

Factors affecting young doctors’ choice of medical specialty—A qualitative study

“…One of the strengths of our study is providing new and previously uncollected data. So far, no nationwide study in this area has been conducted; rather, studies on the choice of a specific medical specialization [ 11 ] or single-center study [ 12 ] are available. The added value of this study is new evidence: our findings confirmed that work-life balance and flexible working conditions are crucial factors determining medical specialty selection by young doctors.…”

“…Introducing "priority specialties," with better pay for residents did not solve the problem and experts have noted that doctors choose specialty based on the possibility of earning extra money in private practice and the current market situation [10]. However, both Polish [11,12] and international research [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] point out that the issue is much more complicated as there are many factors affecting medical specialty choice. Some of the most often indicated determinants besides economic factors are personal characteristics such as gender [13][14][15][16], personal preferences and interests [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], job characteristics and working conditions [11][12][13][14][15][16]19], and the training process [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…However, both Polish [11,12] and international research [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] point out that the issue is much more complicated as there are many factors affecting medical specialty choice. Some of the most often indicated determinants besides economic factors are personal characteristics such as gender [13][14][15][16], personal preferences and interests [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], job characteristics and working conditions [11][12][13][14][15][16]19], and the training process [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. While there are similarities between countries, there is significant variance based on country-specific circumstances [20].…”