ArticleBMC medical education2026
The burden of choice: decision regret in subspecialty selection among young and middle-aged doctors.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSubspecialty choice plays a pivotal role in physicians' career satisfaction and professional trajectory. However, decision regret regarding subspecialty selection has been underexplored, despite its potential impact on well-being and retention.
methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 615 young and middle-aged physicians (aged 25-55) from secondary and tertiary hospitals in China. Participants completed an online questionnaire including the Decision Regret Scale (DRS), a simplified Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Statistical analyses involved ANOVA, Spearman's correlation, and multivariate linear regression to identify factors associated with decision regret.
resultsAmong participants, 9.4% reported high regret, 37.6% moderate regret, and 53.0% low regret. Higher regret was significantly associated with male gender (P = 0.039), younger age (P = 0.019), and higher professional title (P = 0.003). Regression analysis revealed that greater burnout (B = 1.521, P < 0.001) predicted higher regret, while higher job satisfaction (B = - 0.339, P < 0.001) and resilience (B = - 0.588, P = 0.001) were protective factors.
conclusionNearly one in five young and middle-aged Chinese physicians experience high regret in subspecialty choice, influenced by gender, age, burnout, satisfaction, and resilience. Targeted interventions addressing these factors may mitigate regret and enhance physician well-being and retention.
Indexed as
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.