Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Family Medicine, International Medical Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
J Med Life. 2024 Apr;17(4):449-456. doi: 10.25122/jml-2023-0453.
Medical students face uncertainty in choosing their future careers, which is influenced by personal and professional factors and can have a direct impact on the healthcare system and society. In this study, we aimed to analyze the magnitude of influence of personal and professional factors on students' choices of a future specialty, among medical students in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. This cross-sectional exploratory study used cluster sampling and collected demographic data, influencing factors, preferred specialty, and engagement level, using a 20-item questionnaire. The study included 1,105 students, of which 60.5% were women. Income was the most influential factor for both sexes (68.5%) and was statistically significant for men ( < 0.0001), with personal experience and type of patients served being more important for women. Many students (42.6%) were undecided about their future specialty. However, general surgery was the most preferred specialty, followed by internal medicine (10.9%) and obstetrics and gynecology (5.5%). Women had a significantly higher mean personal score than men, indicating a preference for surgery (3.07 ± 2.2 vs. 2.78 ± 2.1; = 0.029). In this study, we found that income significantly influenced medical students' choices of specialty, with surgery being the most common, and that many students are undecided about their specialty, needing career counseling and mentoring programs.
医学生在选择未来职业时面临不确定性，这受到个人和专业因素的影响，并可能直接影响医疗保健系统和社会。在这项研究中，我们旨在分析个人和专业因素对沙特阿拉伯和其他阿拉伯国家医学生未来专业选择的影响程度。这项横断面探索性研究使用聚类抽样，使用 20 项问卷收集人口统计学数据、影响因素、首选专业和参与度。研究包括 1105 名学生，其中 60.5%是女性。收入对男女双方都是最具影响力的因素（68.5%），对男性来说具有统计学意义（<0.0001），个人经验和所服务的患者类型对女性更为重要。许多学生（42.6%）对未来的专业选择犹豫不决。然而，普外科是最受欢迎的专业，其次是内科（10.9%）和妇产科（5.5%）。女性的个人评分均值明显高于男性，表明她们对手术更感兴趣（3.07 ± 2.2 对 2.78 ± 2.1；= 0.029）。在这项研究中，我们发现收入显著影响医学生的专业选择，其中普外科最为常见，许多学生对自己的专业选择犹豫不决，需要职业咨询和指导计划。
