Career choices of today’s medical students: where does surgery rank?

Boyle, E.; Healy, Donagh; Hill, Arnold D.; O’Connell, P. R.; Kerin, Michael J.; McHugh, Seamus; Coyle, P.; Kelly, John; Walsh, Stewart R.; Coffey, J. Calvin

doi:10.1007/s11845-012-0882-x

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Medical student interest in surgery appears to have been in decline over the last two decades. This trend has been observed mostly internationally where there has been a 30% fall in applications to general surgery in the USA, demonstrated by unfilled places in general surgery programmes consistently over the last 15 years, and a 50% decrease in applicants to basic surgical training in Ireland between 2007 and 2011 . Local data also support these findings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Barriers for students pursuing a surgical career and where the Surgical Interest Association can intervene

Dolan-Evans

Rogers

2014

ANZ J Surg

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Background: There are some concerns that medical student interest in surgery is suffering. The aims of this project were to investigate the proportion of medical students interested in surgery from years 1 to 4, explore influential attitudinal and demographic factors, and establish baseline data to study the future effects of the Surgical Interest Association. Methods: Students were surveyed through an audience response system in year orientation sessions. For a majority of the analyses, respondents were dichotomized based on expressing an interest in surgery or not. Results: There were no significant differences in the interest students had for a surgical career between medical student year levels in a cross-sectional analysis. However, available longitudinal data demonstrated a significant decrease in surgical interest from first years in 2012 to second years in 2013. Lifestyle, working hours and training length concerns had minimal effects as career influences on students interested in surgery, whereas academic interest and career opportunities were motivating factors in choosing this career. Conclusion:The results suggested no difference between levels of interest from first to final year students in surgery as a career, though only 22% of final year students were interested in surgery. This study also suggested that promoting the academic and scientific side of surgery, along with career opportunities available, may be an important avenue to encourage students into surgery. Future research will investigate the changing interests of students in surgery longitudinally throughout the medical school and to analyse the effects of the Surgical Interest Association.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Barriers for students pursuing a surgical career and where the Surgical Interest Association can intervene

Dolan-Evans

Rogers

2014

ANZ J Surg

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“…19,20 However, it is an area of research that has been dominated by one research method: the descriptive survey. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] This approach can identify preferences but that is only the start of knowledge building: it is also crucial to identify the relative strength, or value, of career preferences. 28,29 To achieve this, we engaged in inter-disciplinary research 30 with health economist colleagues, to draw on the theories, insights and methods from this discipline to investigate medical career preferences.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is not a new field of research: as mentioned earlier, studies have identified influencing factors and preferences such as gender and the wish for a work–life balance, as well as individual preferences and the importance of prior experience in and exposure to a specialty . However, it is an area of research that has been dominated by one research method: the descriptive survey . This approach can identify preferences but that is only the start of knowledge building: it is also crucial to identify the relative strength, or value, of career preferences …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do UK doctors in training value in a post? A discrete choice experiment

et al. 2016

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“…A further concern for training is the lack of structure in training, which makes it difficult for trainees to plan and ensure they will have an adequate number of cases [6], [25]. It is important to note that the lack of structure and length of training may be connected, and both factors may be related to long working hours.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Surgeon’s Perspective: Promoting and Discouraging Factors for Choosing a Career in Surgery as Perceived by Surgeons

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe aim of this study was to identify the factors perceived by surgeons that promote surgery as an attractive or unattractive career choice for today’s graduates. In addition, it examined whether the perspectives of surgeons in different professional situations converges. The content of work, contextual work conditions, and calling to this job are discussed in the context of choosing surgery as a career.MethodsEight hundred sixty-nine surgeons were asked to answer open-ended questions regarding the factors that promote surgery as an attractive or unattractive career choice for today’s graduates. Four hundred ninety-two surgeons participated, and 1,525 statements were analyzed using Mayring’s content-analyses method. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the differences among hierarchical positions.ResultsWith respect to the factors that promote surgery as a profession, 40.8% (209/492) of the surgeons stated that surgery is a calling, 29.1% (149/492) of the surgeons provided at least one argument related to the positive task characteristics, and 12.9% (66/492) of the surgeons provided statements related to the positive contextual factors. With respect to the factors that discourage surgery as a profession, 45.7% (234/492) of the surgeons provided at least one argument related to the discouraging work characteristics, and 67.6% (346/492) of the surgeons provided problematic contextual characteristics.ConclusionThis study emphasizes the importance of the calling to surgery as an important factor for choosing surgery as a career. However, the extensive workload, training, and poor work-family balance have been identified as factors that discourage graduates from choosing surgery as a career. The identified positive factors could be used to attract and maintain graduates in surgical disciplines.

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Career choices of today’s medical students: where does surgery rank?

Cited by 28 publications

References 28 publications

Barriers for students pursuing a surgical career and where the Surgical Interest Association can intervene

Barriers for students pursuing a surgical career and where the Surgical Interest Association can intervene

What do UK doctors in training value in a post? A discrete choice experiment

The Surgeon’s Perspective: Promoting and Discouraging Factors for Choosing a Career in Surgery as Perceived by Surgeons

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