Choosing a women’s health career

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2005, in response to a decline in residency applications in obstetrics and gynecology (OB GYN), the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Presidential Task Force outlined strategies for attracting medical students to OB GYN. Application rates have increased since then, but little is known about which interventions are effective. We aimed to identify modifiable and nonmodifiable variables that may contribute to students choosing OB GYN for their careers; this information could be used to inform curriculum design, faculty development, and innovative exposures to women’s health.MethodsThis qualitative study received institutional review board approval. Eligible participants were students who applied or recently matched into OB GYN residency programs from the class of 2014–2016 at our institution. Students were interviewed with open-ended questions and a Likert-type survey. Thematic analysis was performed.ResultsTen qualitative interviews were completed and analyzed. Intrinsic themes such as the potential for a meaningful job in women’s health, advocacy for women, or empowerment of women were identified as factors contributing to participant career choice. Extrinsic themes such as positive impressions during the clinical clerkship and welcoming teams were also identified. Most students indicated that the clerkship was the most influential experience.ConclusionsParticipants identified important events, including some that even preceded medical school that guided them toward OB GYN. The data guide us to consider the importance of emphasizing the unique combination of characteristics in OB GYN and improving the learning environment in the clerkship as a way to encourage student recruitment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1362-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Programs to encourage working as a general practitioner in rural areas: why do medical students not want to participate? A cross-sectional study

“…Important reasons are the students’ experiences with different disciplines during medical school and their own assessment of whether they fit in [ 41 ]. Other studies also show that experiences during clerkships are an important factor in the final choice of specialisation [ 5 , 42 , 43 ]. Maybe this approach can also convince students to take part in a project such as the BeLA program mentioned in the current study.…”

“…The aspirations of medical students do not always match the needs of society. For example, in many countries too few students are interested in a specialisation in family medicine, psychiatry or Gynecology, which will create a future shortage of physicians in these specialties [1][2][3][4][5][6] . Factors that are taken into account are the research possibilities [3,7], the perceived status of the discipline [8,9] and the patient population [7,10].…”

Factors influencing specialty choice and the effect of recall bias on findings from Irish medical graduates: a cross-sectional, longitudinal study

“…Such studies are vulnerable to recall bias [25], risking a distortion of memory about earlier preferences [16]. While many medical career-change studies acknowledge the impact of recall bias as a limitation of their study [26][27][28], to the best of our knowledge no previous study has attempted to measure the influence of recall bias on findings using a cross-sectional, longitudinal study design.…”