Factors affecting career decision-making of stomatology undergraduate students in China at graduation: a cross-sectional study on selection dilemmas.

BACKGROUND: Given today's competitive climate, graduates in stomatology face the dilemma of deciding whether to pursue higher education, obtain a master's degree, or focus on clinical careers. However, their career planning tendencies and decision-making factors have not been clarified. This study aimed to analyze these aspects among stomatology undergraduate students at the Southwest Medical University (SWMU) in China. METHODS: This cross-sectional study between July and August 2022 included undergraduate students majoring in stomatology at SWMU. A cross-sectional online questionnaire was used to gather data on the respondents' plans after graduation. The questionnaire included inquiries into their intentions regarding postgraduate education and standardized training. Additionally, the survey explored whether the respondents preferred academic or professional master's degrees, which stomatology subspecialty they preferred, and the factors that influenced their choices. RESULTS: One hundred dental undergraduate students participated in this survey. Results indicated that 91.0% of respondents chose to pursue a master's degree after graduation. Moreover, 80.2% of the respondents chose the professional master rather than the academic master as their first choice. Orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and oral implantology were the top three subspecialties that students preferred. Personal interest, expected revenue, and family suggestions were the main factors influencing subspecialty selection. CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that stomatology undergraduate students face challenges and a dilemma at graduation. Due to the fierce competition in the job market, graduates aspire to pursue postgraduate studies instead of entering the workforce immediately after graduation. Students need to understand the employment landscape in oral medicine and familiarize themselves with the work patterns of various subspecialties while remaining flexible in charting their career paths.

Reasons for gender inequities in invasive electrophysiology: a survey on family issues and career paths of female and male electrophysiology fellows in Germany.

Aims: Female physicians are underrepresented in invasive electrophysiology (EP) for multiple reasons. Despite an increasing focus on the topic, it is unclear what aspects are predominant. Methods and results: We conducted a survey on career paths of current or former EP fellows in Germany to elucidate how gender and family affected their careers. 231 fellows (24.2% female) were invited. 110 participants completed the survey (30.9% female, mean age 41.0 ± 5.0 years, and 79.1% with children). Female and male participants with children reported similar career goals and achievements before parenthood, but afterwards women changed their career paths more often. Major reasons were personal priorities followed by lack of flexibility at work and at home. Women covered the majority of childcare. At the time of the survey, 80.0% of women and 96.4% of men with a former career goal of invasive EP were active in invasive EP. Independent of age, women were in lower-level positions, had accomplished fewer professional achievements, were less satisfied with their work and had fewer children. 56.5% of women did not feel supported by their employers regarding family issues. 82.6% reported there was no satisfactory day care. 69.6% were unable to continue to follow their career during pregnancy, mostly due to restrictions by employers (75.0%). Dedicated policies for pregnant workers or support programmes were scarce. Conclusion: Beside the distribution of childcare at home, lack of flexibility and support by employers as well as working and fluoroscopy restrictions during pregnancy hamper women in EP and should be addressed.

Mini-Symposium: Training the Trainers of the Next Generation of Neuroscience Advocates.

Undergraduate neuroscience researchers and educators have a vital voice in working with policymakers to raise public awareness and increase support and funding for neuroscience. While there are many avenues and opportunities to become involved in neuroscience advocacy, finding the most effective training strategies, resources, and opportunities for involvement can sometimes be difficult and overwhelming. To address this challenge and inform faculty of science advocacy opportunities for undergraduates, we organized a mini-symposium at the 2023 Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Workshop. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with a panel of experts with diverse experiences in neuroscience advocacy and policy. Topics presented and discussed included the importance of advocacy, effective training practices and resources, advice for scientific communication with a non-scientific audience, and various opportunities for advocacy involvement for undergraduate students. We share here our rationale and goals as we set out to plan this mini-symposium, a brief description of each panelist's career trajectory, relevant resources, and major takeaways. We reflect on the lessons learned from this session and recognize the need for an on-going conversation about careers involving science policy, science communication training, and opportunities for undergraduate students. Accordingly, we share future directions and recommendations to help faculty equip not only themselves but also their undergraduate trainees with the knowledge, practical skills, and resources required to engage with their communities as informed citizens.

Perspectives on diagnostic radiographers' motivation for becoming researchers: A qualitative focus group study.

INTRODUCTION: This paper presents motivational factors to engage, start a research project and pursue a research career. The study aimed to investigate radiographer's motivation for engaging in research. METHODS: Eight radiographers from Denmark with experience in research were interviewed in a 2-h focus group interview in October 2023. This qualitative approach was selected to allow the participants to discuss their opinions and values. The discussions were audio recorded and transcribed before the thematic analysis was performed. RESULTS: The analysis revealed six main themes: the importance of radiographic research, the importance of radiographers' participation in research, research radiographers' motivation, funding and participation in research projects, demotivation and difficulties, and facilitating radiographic research in the future. CONCLUSION: The participants were motivated by different factors. The participants found both research in radiography and radiographers' participation in research-related activities important, although they found lack of support from managers, funding, and time to be demotivational factors. IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE: This study contributes to the limited literature on motivational factors for becoming a researcher within radiography.

Physical fitness decline and career paths: a longitudinal study of medical undergraduates.

INTRODUCTION: Exercise enhances one's health and competitiveness. A strong physical fitness status can pave the way for a promising future. This study presents the time-based trends in physical fitness indicators-including height, weight, BMI, lung capacity, dash, long-distance running, and standing long jump-among medical undergraduates during their university years. Additionally, we analyzed the impact of students' physical fitness on their career paths. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective database study by collecting physical fitness test data and career paths information for 634 medical students from a university in southwestern China. These students graduated in 2022. The career paths included pursuits in further studies, employment, and unemployment. To detect differences in these aspects, we used the t-test and Chi-square test. RESULTS: Our study indicates a significant declining trend in the physical fitness of medical students during their university years. The changes observed between the first and fourth tests are as follows: Weight (kg): 58.52 ± 10.48 to 60.73 ± 12.07, P < 0.00 BMI (kg/m^2): 20.79 ± 2.74 to 21.24 ± 3.06, P < 0.00 50-m dash (s): 8.91 ± 0.99 to 9.25 ± 1.11, P < 0.00 Standing long jump (cm): 187.74 ± 30.98 to 182.59 ± 32.25, P < 0.00 800-m run for females (min): 3.84 ± 0.47 to 4.48 ± 0.85, P < 0.00 1000-m run for males (min): 3.98 ± 0.63 to 4.62 ± 0.87, P < 0.00 Sit-ups for females (count): 30.39 ± 7.5 to 29.03 ± 8.82, P < 0.00 Upon analyzing the correlation between changes in physical fitness and career paths, students with stable or decreased BMI had better post-graduation outcomes compared to students with increased BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students show a declining trend in physical fitness during their undergraduate years. A good physical health status is beneficial for achieving better career paths. Medical students should place greater emphasis on physical exercise during their time in school.

"What will you do after?": Lessons from Academia and the World Beyond.

Determining post-PhD career options is a challenge for many Psychology PhD graduates. Here I provide a comprehensive overview of the diverse career trajectories available to graduates, drawing from interviews with 53 PhD graduates conducted as part of the two-volume Academia and the World Beyond book series. From these, I conducted a hierarchical qualitative classification to categorise and characterise potential career paths. The findings reveal a spectrum of opportunities, from traditional academic roles to "academic adjacent" and "skill-transfer" careers. This work underscores the versatility of Psychology doctoral training, providing skills that can support a wide array of career possibilities. The results serve as a guide for current and prospective PhD students-and their mentors-emphasising the variety of professional contexts where doctoral training is beneficial.

The Report of the 2021-2022 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The work of the 2021-2022 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) focused on barriers to graduate education and research-related careers in pharmacy education. AACP President Stuart Haines charged the RGAC with identifying the critical barriers that hinder current PharmD students/recent graduates as well as under-represented groups (e.g., Black and Latino) from pursuing advanced degrees and research-related career paths in the pharmaceutical, social & behavioral, and clinical sciences and recommending changes that might address these barriers - this may include recommendations to change the fundamental structure of graduate education.The committee began its work with a literature review to survey current perspectives on these barriers and assess the supporting evidence for effective solutions and programs, including their relevance to pharmacy education. Based on the review, the committee was able to identify numerous obstacles to entry into and progression through research training, for both underrepresented learners and student pharmacists. Obstacles are individual, e.g., lack of exposure to and self-efficacy in research, financial constraints, structural, e.g., lengthy training time, programmatic rigidity, and institutional, e.g., implicit and explicit bias. The committee found evidence of effective approaches and programs to address these barriers that could be applied in pharmacy schools. These approaches include improvements to existing practices in recruitment, admissions and hiring practices as well as creation of new programs and structural changes to existing programs to increase accessibility to learners. The committee also recognized a need for more research and development of additional approaches to address these barriers.The committee makes a series of recommendations that AACP develop resource guides and programs to address key issues in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and student pharmacists into graduate education and research careers, including as faculty. The committee also proposes new AACP policies to support innovative graduate programs and early, longitudinal engagement of learners from elementary school onward to increase access to graduate education and to support environments and cultures of commitment to accessibility, diversity, equity, inclusiveness, antiracism in pharmacy education.

My Uncle Charlie.

This is a story about my uncle Charlie, who contracted paralytic polio at an early age, and the remembrances on my career trajectory as a virologist that will never be forgotten.

The Ecologist's Career Compass: A game to explore career paths.

One of the most challenging endeavors for students is choosing a career path that best fits their interests, wills and skills, and setting their professional goals accordingly. Such decisions are often made from within the culture of academia, in which mentors and peers are mainly familiar with the academic job market and lack the knowledge necessary to consult about other types of careers. We aimed to address this gap for ecology and related fields by creating an engaging and effective tool to help students and professionals to familiarize themselves with the diversity of potential career paths available to ecologists. The tool is an applied card game - the Ecologist's Career Compass - which is provided here freely. The game is played as a trump card game and includes 33 cards, each representing a combination of one of four job-market sectors and one of nine types of positions. Each card indicates the level of seven skill categories required to likely be hired and succeed in the focal position at the focal sector, as well as more specific examples for typical jobs in the focal combination. The information in the game largely relies on input from a global survey we conducted among 315 ecologists from 35 countries. While the challenges faced by early-career ecologists in developing their professional path are substantial and diverse, this game can assist in gaining a broad comparative overview of the whole ecology job market and the skills required to likely excel in different paths. We hope this applied game will act as a conversation starter about the diversity of aspirations and opportunities in ecology classrooms and labs.

Transnational Migration and Dual Career of Slovenian and Swiss Elite Female Handball Players-A Longitudinal Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to identify the career paths of transnational migrating female elite handball players. Fourteen Slovenian and Suisse national team players were monitored over a 7-year period by means of semi-structured interviews and official handball records. At the end of the examination period, six still-active players were interviewed again. Qualitative thematic analysis was employed to develop a contextualized understanding of participants' careers paths and life trajectories in relation to their athletic migration and dual career. In relation to the limited opportunities offered by small countries with middle-ranking national handball teams, participants highlighted that sport migration coupled with dual career opportunities represented a strategic decision for a successful career development through several key factors: (1) a clear intention towards a professional handball career; (2) the actual fulfilment of professional handball career aspirations; (3) dual career goals as part of the migration process; (4) high personal ambition and emotional connection to handball; (5) the implementation of a successful dual career path; (6) a positive migration experience; and (7) feeling supported and valued during relocation. Sport federations and elite clubs should consider the implementation of a multidimensional approach encompassing dual career paths to facilitate athletes' transnational relocation and career transitions.

Scientific career tracks and publication performance - relationships discovered in the Hungarian academic promotion system.

The paper aims to investigate the research patterns of Hungarian university full professors and career pathways in various disciplines. Hungary has a so-called 'multi-stage' formalized hierarchy that clearly defines the steps leading to achieve the appointment of full professor. Following the theoretical chapter in which different career scenarios - such as 'Top Researcher', 'Outstanding Lecturer' and 'Local Manager' are presented, an empirical analysis is carried out. The sample consists of a group of 327 professors. Our results point out that there are different research patterns and a significant gap can be observed between disciplines rather preferring international publication (scored by SJR) and the ones opting for publishing monographs. As far as career paths concerned, it was found that the number of years until reaching the PhD degree ranges between 6-13 years, 15.5-22 years are needed on average to achieve habilitation, while the time needed for getting the title of full professor ranges between 22-27 years. It is clearly perceivable that the gap in the number of years converges until reaching full professorship in each and every discipline.

The impact of preferences for clinical and managerial leadership roles on the willingness to apply for a medical leadership position: Analysis of gender differences among a sample of German senior physicians.

BACKGROUND: The hybrid role (clinical and managerial leadership tasks) of physicians in medical leadership positions (MLPs) is a driver of the attractiveness of these positions. The increasing feminization of the medical profession makes gender-related preferences for hybrid roles relevant. PURPOSE: The current study uses the (EPL) career aspirations framework to analyze the (gender-related) effects that efficacy beliefs, motivations, and preferences for clinical leadership and managerial leadership have on the willingness of chief physicians to apply for an MLP.Methodology: A survey of senior physicians in German university hospitals yielded a sample size of N = 496. The resulting data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. FINDINGS: The results confirm the low preference for MLPs among senior physicians, which is mainly affected by preferences for managerial leadership tasks. Female senior physicians perceive the position of an MLP to be less attractive than their male counterparts do, and female physicians' willingness to apply for an MLP is concurrently driven by their preferences for clinical leadership and managerial leadership tasks.Practical implications: Mentoring programs could boost female senior physicians' preparedness for MLPs. Further, flexibility in fulfilling managerial leadership tasks could be promoted to make MLPs more attractive to women.

[Supra-regional public health actors in Germany-an overview and categorization]. / Überregionale Public-Health-Akteure in Deutschland ­ eine Bestandsaufnahme und Kategorisierung.

BACKGROUND: Public health actors contribute significantly to health protection, promotion, and prevention at the population level. An overview of the public health landscape can facilitate collaboration among the stakeholders and increase transparency of career paths for young professionals. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to develop an overview and category system of supra-regional public health actors in Germany. METHODS: Based on a list of institutional actors that participated in the national conference Future Forum Public Health ("Zukunftsforum Public Health") and a targeted online search by the authors, supra-regional institutions and organizations with a public health focus were identified. All actors were screened independently by ≥ 2 authors. Community-level actors as well as those without a direct public health focus were excluded. Additional actors were identified via a snowballing process. In order to cluster the actors thematically, a category system was formed inductively. RESULTS: Out of a total of 645 screened actors, 307 (47.6%) were included and subsequently assigned to 12 main and 30 subcategories. Professional associations (n = 60) made up the largest category, followed by civil society (n = 49) and state actors (n = 40). In addition to a tabular and graphical overview, an interactive visualization of the actors was created ( www.noeg.org ). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a comprehensive overview of supra-regional institutional public health actors in Germany and highlights the breadth of the German public health landscape. The results of this work offer new opportunities for collaboration and can support young professionals in their career paths. Building on this work, further research on public health actors is recommended.

Career Paths and Satisfaction of Dental Hygienists Holding Master's and Doctoral Degrees.

Purpose: There is an increased need for dental hygienists with advanced degrees to meet the demands of a complex health care system in addition to advancing the dental hygiene profession. The purpose of this study was to explore the career paths and satisfaction of dental hygienists with master's and doctoral degrees.Methods: A qualitative descriptive phenomenological research design was used with a purposive sample of dental hygienists (n=20) who had master's and doctoral degrees. A virtual web-based videoconferencing platform was used to conduct focus groups and utilize a national sample. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed. Data was analyzed for themes manually and with qualitative analysis software.Results: The results showed a wide range of career paths such as: administrator, lawyer, entrepreneur, dental therapist, dentist, nurse, educator, researcher, public speaker, consultant, editor, state oral health program coordinator, and marketing. The results also indicated that participants were satisfied and valued the pursuit of their advanced education. The six themes that emerged included: expanded opportunities; personal growth; professional growth; credibility; it's an investment; and just do it, don't overanalyze or second guess yourself.Conclusion: Findings suggest satisfaction with advanced education as well as a wide variety of career paths. Participants also endorsed more dental hygienists being educated at the master's and doctoral level to advance the profession of dental hygiene.

Measuring the immediate impact when first year pharmacy students are introduced to diverse career pathways.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To assess if exposure to diverse pharmacy career pathways influences the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) student's career plans within the first month of an academic curriculum. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: First year PharmD students were enrolled in a four-week course with a focus on introduction to core practice areas of pharmacy: community, hospital, and managed care. Guidance was provided with resources and a pharmacist panel to aid in both self-learning and direct sharing about diverse areas of pharmacy practice extending beyond the core course practice areas. A survey was given at the beginning and at the end of the course to measure the influence of course activities on first year students' aspirations for varied pharmacy careers. All students completed the survey but needed to opt into the research for data to be collected. Chi-square, Fisher's Exact Test, and descriptive statistics were used in data analysis. FINDINGS: In this study of 508 first year pharmacy students, we found that 50.8% reported a change in their pharmacy career plans at the end of the course. Student interest in non-traditional career paths increased from 38.2% at the beginning of the course to 47.6% at the end of the course. As a result, students reported that they would select different electives (P < .001), pursue different pharmacy organizations (P = .0003), and explore new internship opportunities (P < .001). Overall, 98% found the course introduced them to pharmacy career paths they were previously unaware existed. SUMMARY: Early exposure to diverse pharmacy career pathways influences students' career plans.

["Zero fluoro"-a chance for more women in electrophysiology]. / "Zero fluoro" ­ eine Chance für mehr Frauen in der Elektrophysiologie.

Many young women in cardiology are concerned about radiation exposure, and this issue contributes to the low number of female interventional cardiologists. The proportion of women in interventional electrophysiology is particularly low. However, radiation exposure during catheter ablation of arrhythmias can be minimized and even avoided completely using modern 3D mapping systems. The "zero fluoro" approach can improve patients' safety but also motivate more women to become interventional electrophysiologists.

Gender Differences in Work Status during Early Career of Dentists: An Analysis of National Survey Cohort Data of 10 Years in Japan.

Few studies have evaluated gender differences in young dentists' career focusing on career breaks and return to work. We created a cohort dataset for dentists registered in 2006 using the national survey between 2006-2016 (men, 1680; women, 984), and examined the work setting of dentists by gender 10 years after registration. The proportion of dentists on career break increased each survey year, and was more pronounced in women than in men (2006 to 2016, men, 11.2% to 14.2%; women, 7.9% to 31.0%). The proportion of those who had career breaks between 2006-2016 was 44.8% in men and 62.9% in women. In the multiple logistic regression for examining the associations between those who returned to work compared to those working continuously, in women, the odds ratios (OR) were significantly higher in those working in dental clinics (owner, OR: 5.39; employee, OR: 3.10), and those working part-time (OR: 2.07); however, in men, there was no significant association with part-time work. These results suggest during early career phase, female dentists are more likely than males to take career breaks and choose part-time on returning. These gender differences should be considered for ensuring adequate workforce in dentistry in the future.

[Paths to academic rheumatology]. / Weg in die akademische Rheumatologie.

BACKGROUND: The development of rheumatology into one of the most progressive medical disciplines is mainly based on the enormous scientific knowledge gained in recent decades. Physician scientists have played a substantial role in this development. With respect to the ongoing challenges, physician scientists will be urgently needed in the future. Therefore, young physicians need to be attracted to scientific research in rheumatology. OBJECTIVE: This article describes possible paths into academic rheumatology, highlights facilitators and barriers to a scientific career and discusses ideas for the recruitment of young scientists for rheumatology based on the existing literature. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: It is without doubt that young scientists are urgently needed in rheumatology; however, the number of young physician scientists seems to be declining. The paths to academic rheumatology are manifold and variable but setting the course early on during medical school by science-oriented teaching, research internships and doctoral theses, appears to be advantageous. Favorable factors for the decision to pursue an academic career in rheumatology are enjoyment in research, recognition of research rotations for rheumatology training and improved career opportunities. The greatest barriers are considered to be the exemption from clinical duties as well as lack of experience with scientific methods and acquisition of research funding. Therefore, it is important to make potential scientists enthusiastic about the research underlying modern rheumatology and to encourage research during medical school in order to attract young people to academic rheumatology.

Italian Adaption of Self-Perceived Employability Scale: Psychometric Properties and Relations with the Career Adaptability and Well-Being.

The recent transformation of the workplaces and labor market, characterized by rapid technological changes, social and economic instability, has greatly influenced the construction of people's career paths. These paths cannot be viewed more as linear, but multifaceted and unstable. In organizational context, the psychological contract has changed from long term to short term. In this scenario, the construct of employability becomes central: people need to maintain and improve their ability to be attractive to the labor market to get or keep a job. The study presents the adaptation of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale to the Italian context. The participants are 660 Italian workers. The instruments used to verify the concurrent validity of the scale were the Employability Scale, the Flourishing Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Organizational Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. Results showed good psychometric properties of the Italian version in terms of internal consistency, construct and concurrent validity, with significant correlations with all the other measures. The CFA highlights some dissimilarity in the scale's structure compared to the UK version, probably due to cultural differences among the samples.

Women's changing work arrangements, career paths, and marital fertility in Japan.

By drawing upon birth history data gleaned from the 2007 and 2010 rounds of the National Survey on Work and Family (NSWF), we estimate the relationship between the married female worker's use of the childcare leave scheme and her hourly wage, and then evaluate the impact of her predicted hourly wage upon her probability of proceeding from parity 0 to parity 1, as well as from parity 1 to parity 2. We find that married Japanese women working full-time, who took advantage of childcare leave, earned considerably higher hourly wages than their part-time counterparts. However, the higher predicted hourly wage lowered the probability of having first two children. This implies that the opportunity cost of having children is greater than the income effect for full time workers. In comparison with full-time workers, married women working part-time show much lower probabilities of having first two children.