ArticleBMC medical education2024
Factors affecting the specialty choice among medical students of Saudi Arabia; an exploratory study.
Article in BMC medical education, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Family collective agency in career decision-making among medical and dental students: a qualitative intersectional study in Peshawar, Pakistan.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Factors Influencing Chinese Medical Students Choice of Infectious Disease Specialty: A Qualitative and Quantitative Survey.Advances in medical education and practice · 2025Article
- The impact of a longitudinal mentorship program on medical students: A mixed-methods study.PloS one · 2025Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundCareer or specialty choice is one of the crucial steps of a medical student's life. It's a difficult yet important decision that is hard to reverse after getting into the residency program. The recent catastrophic experience of shortage and maldistribution of the health workforce among different specialties during the recent pandemic has made it critical for the authorities to look into the motivators and determinants for the specialty choice from the undergraduate medical student's perspective. Therefore, the study aimed to find out the major factors affecting career choice and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the specialty choice of medical students in Saudi Arabia.
methodThis qualitative exploratory study was carried out to explore the factors affecting the specialty choice and effects of COVID-19 on the specialty choice of senior medical students and interns of Saudi Arabia by utilizing semi-structured audio-recoded interviews. Participants of the study were enrolled by convenient sampling after informed written consent. Data were transcribed and thematic analysis was done to extract the themes.
resultA total of 28 medical students and 14 interns participated in the study. The study identified five major themes with 18 relevant subthemes. The subthemes derived from the transcribed data were arranged under the following key themes; recognizing the determinants for specialty choice, financial expectation, gender specificity/stereotype, the impact of COVID-19, and concomitant motivation factors.
conclusionThe right selection of a suitable future career is pivotal and strongly associated with future job success and satisfaction for a medical graduate. The study has provided insight to the regulatory bodies about student's fears and factors affecting them to choose or avoid certain specialties to formulate a future resource management plan accordingly.
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