ArticleBMJ open2013
Specialty choice in times of economic crisis: a cross-sectional survey of Spanish medical students.
Article in BMJ open, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Effects of Sri Lankan economic crisis on health, lifestyle and education of medical students in Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo - an online survey.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Determining the distance patterns in the movements of future doctors in UK between 2002 and 2015: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ open · 2024Article
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- A Realist Evaluation of Theory about Triggers for Doctors Choosing a Generalist or Specialist Medical Career.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- 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.Human resources for health · 2020Article
- Self-reported influence of monetary grants in the choice of a medical residency in remote or under-served areas.Israel journal of health policy research · 2019Article
- Medical specialty preferences in early medical school training in Canada.International journal of medical education · 2017Article
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- Factors influencing junior doctors' choices of future specialty: trends over time and demographics based on results from UK national surveys.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2015Article
- [Important differences between faculties of medicine. Implications for family and community medicine].Atencion primaria · 2014Article
- Encouraging Subspecialty Practice by Constructively Influencing Trainees Early in their Careers Will Improve Advocacy for Neuro-Ophthalmology among Nigerian Ophthalmologists.Journal of medical education and curricular developmentArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the determinants of specialty choice among graduating medical students in Spain, a country that entered into a severe, ongoing economic crisis in 2008.
settingSince 2008, the percentage of Spanish medical school graduates electing Family and Community Medicine (FCM) has experienced a reversal after more than a decade of decline.
designA nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted online in April 2011.
participantsWe invited all students in their final year before graduation from each of Spain's 27 public and private medical schools to participate.
main outcome measuresRespondents' preferred specialty in relation to their perceptions of: (1) the probability of obtaining employment; (2) lifestyle and work hours; (3) recognition by patients; (4) prestige among colleagues; (5) opportunity for professional development; (6) annual remuneration and (7) the proportion of the physician's compensation from private practice.
results978 medical students (25% of the nationwide population of students in their final year) participated. Perceived job availability had the largest impact on specialty preference. Each 10% increment in the probability of obtaining employment increased the odds of preferring a specialty by 33.7% (95% CI 27.2% to 40.5%). Job availability was four times as important as compensation from private practice in determining specialty choice (95% CI 1.7 to 6.8). We observed considerable heterogeneity in the influence of lifestyle and work hours, with students who preferred such specialties as Cardiovascular Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology valuing longer rather than shorter workdays.
conclusionsIn the midst of an ongoing economic crisis, job availability has assumed critical importance as a determinant of specialty preference among Spanish medical students. In view of the shortage of practitioners of FCM, public policies that take advantage of the enhanced perceived job availability of FCM may help steer medical school graduates into this specialty.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.