ArticleBMC medical education2017
Medical students' career choices, preference for placement, and attitudes towards the role of medical instruction in Ethiopia.
Article in BMC medical education, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Professional and academic pre-qualifications, career preferences and aspirations in working as a rural doctor.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Opinion: Medical education in many low- and middle-income countries needs urgent attention and serious improvement.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Are Ethiopian schools of medicine producing competent medical graduates for providing quality health care in the era of COVID-19 pandemic?BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Increasing the availability of health workers in rural sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of rural pipeline programmes.Human resources for health · 2023Article
- Article
- The Professional Identity and Career Attitude of Chinese Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey in China.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Factors and Determinants of Choosing Pathology as a Future Career: Results From a Multi-Institution Study.Cureus · 2021Article
- Health system's response for physician workforce shortages and the upcoming crisis in Ethiopia: a grounded theory research.Human resources for health · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Ethiopia, the health care delivery and the system of medical education have been expanding rapidly. However, in spite of the expansion, no studies have been carried out among medical students to identify their career choices and attitudes towards the medical instruction. Therefore, this study aimed to fill the gap in evidence in these specific areas.
methodsPretested questionnaire was self-administered among fifth and sixth year medical students in six government owned medical schools in Ethiopia. A total of 959 students were involved in the study with a response rate of 82.2%. Career choices, intention where to work just after graduation, and attitudes towards medical instruction were descriptively presented. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with the intention of medical students to work in rural and remote areas.
resultsMajority, (70.1%) of the medical students wanted to practice in clinical care settings. However, only a small proportion of them showed interest to work in rural and remote areas (21% in zonal and 8.7% in district/small towns). For most, internal medicine was the first specialty of choice followed by surgery. However, students showed little interest in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as in pediatrics and child health as their first specialty of choice. Medical students' attitudes towards their school in preparing them to work in rural and remote areas, to pursue their career within the country and to specialize in medical disciplines in which there are shortages in the country were low. The binary logistic regression model revealed that a significantly increased odds of preference to work in rural and remote areas was observed among males, those who were born in rural areas, the medical students of Addis Ababa University and those who had the desire to serve within the country.
conclusionThis study showed that Ethiopian medical schools are training medical workforce with preferences not to work in rural and remote places, and not to specialize in disciplines where there are shortages in the country. Thus, attention should be given to influence medical students' attitude to work in rural and remote locations and to specialize in diverse clinical specialties.
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