The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East
Background and Aims: Throughout their years of study, undergraduate medical students are expected to gain broad comprehension of all medical specialties. After acquiring an undergraduate degree, the decision to choose a specialty is critical for every student's life as it determines the rest of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1742_22 |
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| author | Anas S. Alyazidi Mahmoud A. Gaddoury Fahad A. Alotibi Khalid M. Aljehani Renad A. Ahmed Saeed A. Alhudaifi Abdulmohsen S. Aldharrab Abdulaziz S. Alkhallagi Rajaa Al-Raddadi |
| author_facet | Anas S. Alyazidi Mahmoud A. Gaddoury Fahad A. Alotibi Khalid M. Aljehani Renad A. Ahmed Saeed A. Alhudaifi Abdulmohsen S. Aldharrab Abdulaziz S. Alkhallagi Rajaa Al-Raddadi |
| author_sort | Anas S. Alyazidi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and Aims:
Throughout their years of study, undergraduate medical students are expected to gain broad comprehension of all medical specialties. After acquiring an undergraduate degree, the decision to choose a specialty is critical for every student's life as it determines the rest of their career path. This study aims to determine factors influencing medical students' choices between various specialties in different countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Subjects and Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2022 targeting medical students from the Middle East and North African countries. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the students, which consisted of four sections. Ethical approval was obtained from the Unit of Biomedical Ethics Research Committee at King Abdulaziz University. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. For statistical analysis, IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows (Version 21.0; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used. Categorical variables were presented using numbers, associated frequencies, and percentages (%). Categorical variables were correlated using the Chi-square test. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare the means of three or more independent groups. Logistic regression, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to identify the factors associated with specialty selection. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
A total of 1109 students responded to the questionnaire. Participants' gender characteristics showed that there were 672 (60.6%) females and 437 (39.4%) males. Among them, 127 were in their second year, 180 in their third year, 362 in their fourth year, 85 in their fifth year, 37 in their sixth year, and 108 were interns. The median age of the participants was 22.0 years (mean = 22.09 ± 2.891). There were 473 (42.6%) students who were undecided about their future medical specialty. Income (759, 68.4%) and career prospects (723, 65.2%) were the most preferred factors in their decision to pursue a future medical specialization.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, medical and surgical specialties have been identified as the preferred future career path. It was discovered that student's decision-making is influenced by income, career prospects, and the sense of competency needed to choose a future medical specialty. Future research would be more revealing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-51a1ec8cbde849ec9a328b058de7647c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2249-4863 2278-7135 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| spelling | doaj-art-51a1ec8cbde849ec9a328b058de7647c2024-11-11T13:53:18ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Family Medicine and Primary Care2249-48632278-71352023-11-0112112622263410.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1742_22The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle EastAnas S. AlyazidiMahmoud A. GaddouryFahad A. AlotibiKhalid M. AljehaniRenad A. AhmedSaeed A. AlhudaifiAbdulmohsen S. AldharrabAbdulaziz S. AlkhallagiRajaa Al-RaddadiBackground and Aims: Throughout their years of study, undergraduate medical students are expected to gain broad comprehension of all medical specialties. After acquiring an undergraduate degree, the decision to choose a specialty is critical for every student's life as it determines the rest of their career path. This study aims to determine factors influencing medical students' choices between various specialties in different countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2022 targeting medical students from the Middle East and North African countries. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the students, which consisted of four sections. Ethical approval was obtained from the Unit of Biomedical Ethics Research Committee at King Abdulaziz University. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. For statistical analysis, IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows (Version 21.0; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used. Categorical variables were presented using numbers, associated frequencies, and percentages (%). Categorical variables were correlated using the Chi-square test. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare the means of three or more independent groups. Logistic regression, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to identify the factors associated with specialty selection. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 1109 students responded to the questionnaire. Participants' gender characteristics showed that there were 672 (60.6%) females and 437 (39.4%) males. Among them, 127 were in their second year, 180 in their third year, 362 in their fourth year, 85 in their fifth year, 37 in their sixth year, and 108 were interns. The median age of the participants was 22.0 years (mean = 22.09 ± 2.891). There were 473 (42.6%) students who were undecided about their future medical specialty. Income (759, 68.4%) and career prospects (723, 65.2%) were the most preferred factors in their decision to pursue a future medical specialization. Conclusions: In conclusion, medical and surgical specialties have been identified as the preferred future career path. It was discovered that student's decision-making is influenced by income, career prospects, and the sense of competency needed to choose a future medical specialty. Future research would be more revealing.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1742_22influencing factormedical studentpostgraduate specialtyspecialty choiceundergraduate medical education |
| spellingShingle | Anas S. Alyazidi Mahmoud A. Gaddoury Fahad A. Alotibi Khalid M. Aljehani Renad A. Ahmed Saeed A. Alhudaifi Abdulmohsen S. Aldharrab Abdulaziz S. Alkhallagi Rajaa Al-Raddadi The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care influencing factor medical student postgraduate specialty specialty choice undergraduate medical education |
| title | The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East |
| title_full | The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East |
| title_fullStr | The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East |
| title_full_unstemmed | The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East |
| title_short | The determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path: A cross-sectional multinational study in the Middle East |
| title_sort | determining factors of medical students in considering a specialty as a future career path a cross sectional multinational study in the middle east |
| topic | influencing factor medical student postgraduate specialty specialty choice undergraduate medical education |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1742_22 |
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