Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Med Teach. 2011;33(12):1011-7. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.558533. Epub 2011 Jul 21.
Student choice is an important determinant of the specialty mix of practicing physicians in Canada. Understanding student characteristics at medical school entry that are associated with a student choosing a residency in surgery can assist surgical educators in supporting medical students interested in surgery and in serving health human resources needs.
From 2002 to 2004, data was collected from entering students in 15 classes at eight of 16 Canadian medical schools. Surveys included questions on career choice, attitudes to practice, and socio-demographics. Students were followed prospectively with survey data linked to their residency choice. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify entry characteristics that predicted a student's ultimate choice of a surgical career.
Eight entry variables predicted whether a student named surgery (including obstetrics) as their top residency choice: having surgery as their top career choice, having a relative or friend in a surgical career, having undertaken volunteer work with sports teams, an interest in narrow scope of practice, greater interest in medical the social patient problems, an interest in urgent care, and younger age were identified as predictors of a surgical career choice.
Surgical educators may wish to attend to the factors that we found that predicted students selecting a surgical residency as their top career choice at medical school exit in order to foster and support students interested in the surgical disciplines during medical school. In addition, these factors could be used to identify students interested in a surgical career at medical school entry.
学生选择是决定加拿大执业医师专业构成的一个重要因素。了解医学生在入学时与选择外科住院医师相关的特征，可以帮助外科教育工作者为对外科感兴趣的医学生提供支持，并满足卫生人力资源的需求。
2002 年至 2004 年，从加拿大 16 所医学院中的 8 所的 15 个班级的入学学生中收集数据。调查包括职业选择、对实践的态度以及社会人口统计学问题。前瞻性地对学生进行随访，将调查数据与他们的住院医师选择联系起来。采用多变量逻辑回归分析确定预测学生最终选择外科职业的入学特征。
有 8 个入学变量预测了学生是否将外科（包括妇产科）列为首选住院医师选择：将外科作为首选职业选择、有亲属或朋友从事外科职业、有与运动队相关的志愿者工作经历、对狭窄实践范围感兴趣、对医疗社会患者问题更感兴趣、对紧急护理感兴趣，以及年龄较小，这些都被认为是选择外科职业的预测因素。
外科教育工作者可能希望关注我们发现的那些预测学生在医学院毕业时选择外科住院医师作为首选职业的因素，以便在医学院期间培养和支持对外科领域感兴趣的学生。此外，这些因素可用于在医学院入学时识别对外科职业感兴趣的学生。
