IntroductionMedical students are the source of a country's physicians. Determining how medical students select their areas of specialization is the key to achieve a balanced distribution of doctors among all specialties. The objective is to identify the number of medical students who have decided their postgraduate specialty career, their career specialties preference, and factors that may influence their decision to select a particular specialty.MethodsA facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2013 at Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire comprising demographic data and questions about future specialties preferences and factors influencing those preferences was distributed to 887 male and female students, (from first to fifth academic years) recruited in the study.ResultsResponse rate was 73% with 647 questionnaires collected, out of 887 eligible medical students. Of the returned questionnaires, 604 were valid. The majority of students (541, 89.6%) have chosen a specialty. Surgery, medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology were the most selected specialties. The least selected specialty was anaesthesiology. A significant association was found between gender and specialty choice using Chi-square test (p = 0.00). There was no association between undergraduate level and specialty choice (p = 0.633). The most common reason for choosing a specific specialty was “Personal Interest” (215, 39.7%) followed by being “Helpful to the community” (144, 26.6%).ConclusionSurgery, medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology were the most selected specialties.

Background: Medical students are the future doctors in any country. The lack or surplus of medical school interest in specialties influences and affects the health services in a country. Objective: In our study we evaluated the interest of medical students in Internal Medicine at a University in Sudan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2013 at Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), Khartoum, Sudan. A self-administered questionnaire was given to 887 male and female students enrolled at UMST. Results: A total of 887 questionnaires were handed out, of these 647 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 73%). Of the returned questionnaires 604 were valid and considered. Table 1 shows the general characteristics of the valid responses. The majority of our respondents were females 371 (61.4%) and 233 students were males (38.6%). There were 142 students interested in internal medicine. Of them, 95(21.3%) were in pre-clinical years, 47(29.6%) clinical, 25.3% were male and 22.4% were female. Amongst the subspecialties within medicine, 33.1% of students chose Cardiology as their first choice subspecialty, followed by Internal Medicine (26.8%), Neurology (13.4%) and Dermatology (11.3%). Conclusion: Medicine is second most popular specialty selected by medical students. The highest selected sub-specialty was cardiology. The main reasons for selecting Medicine as a career is personal interest, followed by being helpful to the community, and lastly job opportunities. Keywords: Career Choice, Internal Medicine, Medical Students.

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