Factors associated with the specialty choice of Korean medical students: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundAn imbalance of physician supply by medical specialty has been observed in most countries. In Korea, there is a greater tendency to avoid surgical specialties and specialty choices in nonclinical medicine, such as the basic science of medicine. In this study, we identified factors affecting the specialty choice of physicians in order to provide a basis for policies to address this problem.MethodsWe used the results of a 2013 nationwide survey of 12 709 medical students (82.7 % responded) to analyze the data of 9499 students after excluding missing data. Descriptive analyses of all students’ specialty choice were performed. Logistic regression was performed by selecting gender, age, grade level, type of medical school, hometown, and the location of the medical school as the independent variables. Medical specialty was the dependent variable. The dependent variable, or specialty of medicine, was categorized into three groups: nonclinical/clinical medicine, surgical-medical specialty, and controllable lifestyle specialty.ResultsThe order of preferred medical specialties was internal medicine, psychiatry, and pediatrics; for surgical specialties, the order was orthopedic surgery, general surgery, and ophthalmology. Medical specialties were most favored by women and students in the third (men) and second (women) year of the medical program, whereas surgical specialties were most preferred by men and students in the first year of the program. Students in the third year mostly favored nonclinical medicine. Medical college students had a stronger preference for nonclinical medicine (odds ratio [OR] 1.625, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.139–2.318) than graduate medical school students. Surgical specialties were more favored by men (OR 2.537, 95 % CI 2.296–2.804) than by women. However, they were favored less by medical college students (OR 0.885, 95 % CI 0.790–0.991) than by graduate medical school students and by medical students in metropolitan areas (OR 0.892, 95 % CI 0.806–0.988) than by medical students in nonmetropolitan areas. A controllable lifestyle specialty was less favored by men (OR 0.802, 95 % CI 0.730–0.881) than by women.ConclusionsBased on these results, we can evaluate the effectiveness of the government’s educational policies for solving the imbalance of physician supply and provide empirical evidence to understand and solve this problem.

Factors influencing subspecialty choice among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Because of the population ageing, increased workload on doctors through increased number of consultations and in managing patients with multimorbidity, the demand for physicians continues to increase; however, an imbalance in the supply of physicians in different subspecialties has become a growing concern in both developed and developing countries 1–5. Some specialties and subspecialties, such as family medicine and palliative medicine,6 7 are experiencing a desperate shortage of physicians, whereas other specialties and subspecialties, such as cardiology, ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat surgery, are highly competitive specialties with low success rate for candidates 8 9…”

Career choices, determinants, and need for medical career introduction among medical students

“…It is in accordance with previous studies regarding medical students' career preferences both domestically and internationally. [1][2][3][4][11][12][13][14][15] The second most chosen career as the first choice was as a general practitioner. The result was similar to the previous study shown that GP is still considered as career preference.…”

“…Most of medical students choose specialty as their preferred medical career. [1][2][3] Many factors influence the career specialty decisions made by medical students. [3][4][5][6] These factors embrace a wide spectrum of influences and range from traditional motivators such as individual characteristics or anticipation of specialty-related income, to generation Y's typical career preferences, such as personal time free from practice requirements for leisure, family and vocational pursuits, along with control of the total number of hours per week spent on fulfilling professional responsibilities.…”

The role of private education in the selection of primary care careers in low and middle-income countries. Findings from a representative survey of medical residents in Brazil

“…Besides economic motifs, multiple drivers are believed to be at the heart of medical students' choice of specialties. Evidence exists linking preference for specific specialties to medical students' socio-economic characteristics [9], to their valuation of future job opportunities [10], and to the characteristics of the training received [11]. Labour market forces and prospective revenues have also been identified as major influencing factors in the selection of specialties, with the expected Rate of Return to Education for specific medical professions being a key, and still largely unexplored, determinant of students' decisions [12].…”