Nguyen Quang Thanh, Nguyen Minh Phan Ngoc, Bui Nhi Yen, Ngo Minh Quang, Nguyen Linh Vu Thuy, Dang Trang Thu
College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi, Vietnam.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 26;20(6):e0326932. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0326932. eCollection 2025.
Medical students' specialty decisions are shaped by a complex interaction of personal characteristics, academic experiences, social influences, and broader contextual factors. In lower-middle-income countries, where Western medical curricula are adapted to local educational and cultural contexts, little is known about how students make sense of these influences in shaping their future professional roles. This study aimed to explore how students interpret and construct their specialty choices in a newly established hybrid medical curriculum in Vietnam.
This qualitative study used an interpretive phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 medical students across all four academic years at a Vietnamese medical school. Participants were selected through purposive sampling to ensure diverse academic backgrounds and training levels. Interviews were thematically analyzed using an inductive framework to identify how students experienced and interpreted influences on their specialty decisions.
Four interrelated themes emerged from the analysis. First, students described how personality traits shaped their emerging identity and influenced specialty preferences. Second, academic and extracurricular experiences, including clinical rotations, research, and volunteer work, were viewed as transformative encounters that clarified career direction. Third, students navigated financial hardship, family expectations, and academic pressure, often interpreting these constraints as factors in negotiating or compromising their career choices. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted moral reflection, with some students reaffirming frontline aspirations and others shifting toward specialties offering personal safety or opportunities for systemic impact.
Medical specialty choice is a reflective and identity-driven process shaped by personal dispositions, experiential learning, social pressures, and contextual disruptions. Rather than being solely determined by traits or external incentives, students engage in an evolving interpretation of who they are and what kind of doctor they wish to become. Medical education should incorporate reflective support systems to guide students through this complex process.
医学生的专业选择受到个人特质、学术经历、社会影响及更广泛背景因素的复杂相互作用的影响。在中低收入国家，西方医学课程会根据当地教育和文化背景进行调整，对于学生如何理解这些影响以塑造其未来职业角色，我们所知甚少。本研究旨在探讨越南一所新建的混合式医学课程中的学生如何解读和构建他们的专业选择。
本定性研究采用解释现象学方法。对越南一所医学院所有四个学年的27名医学生进行了半结构化访谈。通过目的抽样选择参与者，以确保学术背景和培训水平的多样性。使用归纳框架对访谈进行主题分析，以确定学生如何体验和解读对其专业决策的影响。
分析得出四个相互关联的主题。首先，学生描述了个性特质如何塑造他们正在形成的身份并影响专业偏好。其次，学术和课外经历，包括临床轮转、研究和志愿工作，被视为具有变革性的经历，明确了职业方向。第三，学生应对经济困难、家庭期望和学业压力，通常将这些限制解读为影响其职业选择协商或妥协的因素。最后，新冠疫情引发了道德反思，一些学生重申了投身一线的愿望，而另一些学生则转向提供个人安全或具有系统影响机会的专业。
医学专业选择是一个由个人性格、体验式学习、社会压力和背景干扰塑造的反思性且由身份驱动的过程。学生并非仅仅由特质或外部激励因素决定，而是在不断地诠释自己是谁以及希望成为什么样的医生。医学教育应纳入反思性支持系统，以引导学生度过这一复杂过程。
