ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Workforce planning is critical for being able to deliver appropriate health service and thus is relevant to medical education. It is, therefore, important to understand medical students' future specialty choices and the factors that influence them. This study was conducted to identify, explore, and analyze the factors influencing specialty preferences among medical students of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). METHODS: A multiyear, multicenter survey of medical student career choice was conducted with all five UAE medical schools. The questionnaire consisted of five sections. Chi-squared tests, regression analysis, and stepwise logistic regression were performed. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 46% (956/2079). Factors that students reported to be extremely important when considering their future career preferences were intellectual satisfaction (87%), work-life balance (71%), having the required talent (70%), and having a stable and secure future (69%). The majority of students (60%) preferred internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, or family Medicine. The most common reason given for choosing a particular specialty was personal interest (21%), followed by flexibility of working hours (17%). DISCUSSION: The data show that a variety of factors inspires medical students in the UAE in their choice of a future medical specialty. These factors can be used by health policymakers, university mentors, and directors of residency training programs to motivate students to choose specialties that are scarce in the UAE and therefore better serve the health-care system and the national community.
Subject(s)
Motivation , Specialization/statistics & numerical data , Students, Medical/psychology , Adolescent , Career Choice , Female , Humans , Male , Personal Satisfaction , Schools, Medical , Surveys and Questionnaires , United Arab Emirates , Work-Life Balance , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Because of the mandatory sanitary measures established during the Covid-19 Pandemic, we have proposed to describe the new clinical, educative, and research practices of an international sample of doctors. METHODS: We have used an online electronic survey of a convenient sample of doctors from 40 countries using a multiple-choice online questionnaire, including three domains. 424 out of 456 respondents provided adequate responses. RESULTS: Most respondents were from medical (51.5%) and surgical (11.8%) specialties. Over half of the respondents practiced in academic centers and one fifth in the private sector. Coronavirus pandemic induced frequent changes in practice, such as seeing fewer patients in clinics than usual (34.9%) and utilization of telemedicine (31.3%). A significant disruption in medical education activities and residents' training was observed, resulting in the cancellation of many activities such as grand rounds, departmental and multidisciplinary meetings, and case conferences with over-reliance on virtual and on-demand educational sessions. The residents' supervision and support were significantly reduced. Almost 16% of respondents were involved in research work on coronavirus pandemic while a third continued their usual research activity, but half were not involved in any research at the time of the survey. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID19 pandemic has promoted new practices in the field as the recourse to telemedicine, virtual conferences, and thematic researches on COVID-19. The unexpected situation has opened new prospects for future doctors' preparation for these new means of practice and learning of medicine.