Assessing the job preferences of senior medical students for mandatory service: a discrete choice experiment.

AIM: To investigate the job preferences of senior medical students for mandatory service as general practitioners using discrete choice experiment. INTRODUCTION: Health workforce is directly associated with health service coverage and health outcomes. However, there is a global shortage of healthcare workers (HCWs) in rural areas. Discrete choice experiments can guide the policy and decision-makers to increase recruitment and retention of HCWs in remote and rural areas by determining their job preferences. The aim of this study is to investigate job preferences of senior medical students for mandatory service as general practitioners. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 144 medical students. To estimate students' preferences for different levels of job attributes, a mixed logit model was utilised. Simulations of job uptake rates and willingness to pay (WTP) estimates were computed. FINDINGS: All attributes had an impact on the job preferences of students with the following order of priority: salary, workload, proximity to family/friends, working environment, facility and developmental status. For a normal workload and a workplace closed to family/friends which were the most valued attributes after salary, WTPs were 2818.8 Turkish lira (TRY) ($398.7) and 2287.5 TRY ($323.6), respectively. The preference weights of various job characteristics were modified by gender, the presence of a HCW parent and willingness to perform mandatory service. To recruit young physicians where they are most needed, monetary incentives appear to be the most efficient intervention. Non-pecuniary job characteristics also affected job preferences. Packages of both monetary and non-monetary incentives tailored to individual characteristics would be the most efficient approach.

Evaluation of thyroid disease and thyroid malignancy in acromegalic patients.

BACKGROUND: Differences in epidemiological data from different geographical regions have made the prevalence of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer controversial. No previous study has investigated whether thyroid disease and thyroid cancer prevalence are higher in acromegalic patients than in the general population in Türkiye. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in acromegaly and to compare it with the control group. METHODS: A total of 129 acromegalic patients (78 female, 51 male) and 247 control group patients (151 female, 96 male) were included in the study. Pituitary size, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 levels in all patients with acromegaly and thyroid function tests, thyroid receptor autoantibody (TRAb), thyroid scintigraphy, thyroid ultrasonography (US), fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and histopathology findings after thyroidectomy were recorded. RESULTS: Thyroid lesions were present in 93 patients (72.1%) with acromegaly. While diffuse goiter (14.7%) and multinodular goiter (MNG) (47.3%) were significantly higher, Graves' disease (4.5%) was significantly lower in the acromegaly group compared to control group. The presence of thyroid lesions and thyroid nodules was significantly higher in patients with acromegaly (odds ratio 2.766; 95% CI 2.112-4.469, P<0.001 and OR 1.955; 95% CI 1.206-3.170, P=0.007). According to gender, the prevalence of thyroid lesions, MNG and thyroid cancer was significantly higher in female patients than in the control group. Thyroid cancer prevalence was found in 7% of acromegalic patients and the prevalence of thyroid cancer in the control group was 4.5%. CONCLUSIONS: It remains controversial whether the risk of thyroid cancer is increased or not in patients with acromegaly. In this study, there is no significant difference in thyroid cancer between acromegaly and control group, but thyroid lesions are significantly more common in acromegaly. Also, more research is required to determine if thyroid lesions are more prevalent in females with acromegaly.