Gebhard Anke, Müller-Hilke Brigitte
University of Medicine of Rostock, Institute for Immunology, Rostock, Germany.
GMS J Med Educ. 2019 Nov 15;36(6):Doc76. doi: 10.3205/zma001284. eCollection 2019.
Despite the increase in the number of graduates in Human Medicine, it has been predicted that there will not only be a shortage of doctors, but also a shortage of specialists in Germany for the years to come. At the same time there are only a few studies on the factors that influence medical students in their decision to select a specialty. Against this background, a study was conducted at the Medical Faculty in Rostock, to investigate the criteria for deciding on a later field of specialty. Conducting focus groups of four to seven participants of each year of study, criteria were determined which seemed relevant to the students during their selection of their specialty field. The interviews were transcribed and the answers of the participants classified in super categories. With the data obtained a questionnaire was prepared and sent electronically to all students of Human Medicine. Via exploratory factor analysis important criteria and their correlations were determined. A total of 421 students took part in the questionnaire (31.4% return) and indicated their own clinical experience, but also patient contact and work-life-balance as important criteria for a future selection of specialty field. 44.8% of the participants had already made their choice of specialty at the time of the query, and this for the most part took place in the clinical study phase and most often for the subjects Internal Medicine (15.3%), General Medicine (14.2%), Pediatrics (12.0%) and Surgery (11.5%). For those students who already had made a decision, the size and complexity of the field as well as the opportunity to be able to build relationships with patients, were decisive for selection. Those still undecided indicated that for their choice of specialty family friendliness of the field, leisure time and esteem from others were important. Our results show that the personal clinical experience can be a decisive influential factor for future specialty selection. Early contact with the different disciplines could therefore be structured as an aid to help in the decision making, in order to break down any apprehensions and to stop a pending deficiency in specialists.
尽管德国人类医学专业的毕业生数量有所增加，但据预测，在未来几年，德国不仅将面临医生短缺的问题，还将面临专科医生短缺的问题。与此同时，关于影响医学生选择专业的因素的研究却很少。在此背景下，罗斯托克医学院进行了一项研究，以调查决定未来专业领域的标准。通过对每个学年四至七名参与者进行焦点小组讨论，确定了学生在选择专业领域时似乎相关的标准。访谈内容被转录，参与者的回答被归类为超级类别。利用获得的数据编制了一份问卷，并以电子方式发送给所有人类医学专业的学生。通过探索性因素分析，确定了重要标准及其相关性。共有421名学生参与了问卷调查（回复率为31.4%），他们表示自己的临床经验、与患者的接触以及工作与生活的平衡是未来选择专业领域的重要标准。44.8%的参与者在调查时已经做出了专业选择，其中大部分是在临床学习阶段做出的，最常选择的专业是内科（15.3%）、普通医学（14.2%）、儿科（12.0%）和外科（11.5%）。对于那些已经做出决定的学生来说，该领域的规模和复杂性以及与患者建立关系的机会是选择的决定性因素。那些尚未做出决定的学生表示，该领域对家庭的友好程度、休闲时间以及他人的尊重对他们选择专业很重要。我们的结果表明，个人临床经验可能是未来专业选择的决定性影响因素。因此，可以安排早期与不同学科的接触，以帮助做出决策，消除任何疑虑，并阻止即将出现的专科医生短缺问题。
