Career Trends in Female Medical Students. A study at Allama Iqbal Medical College / Jinnah Hospital, Lahore

Index

List Of Table and Graphs

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION:

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

RESULTS AND MAIN FINDINGS:

DISCUSSON:

REFERENCES:

List Of Table and Graphs

Age of Respondents

Class of Respondents

Fathers Education

Comparing Fathers Education

Mother’s Education:

Mother’s Occupation:

Students Residence

Questionnaire and relative frequencies

Reasons for choosing medical profession

Main reason not choosing a Specialty?

Reason for not choosing particular specialty selection?

Infllunce of family

Abstract:

Background:

Choosing a specialty is a complex process and may be influenced by several factors. There were some changes in the career choices of medical students. Interest in some specialties like surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics & gynecology declined.

Objective:

The objective of research is to evaluate career choices among female medical students.

Material and Methods:

Study Design:

Cross sectional Study

Study Setting and duration:

Study was done on students of Allama Iqbal Medical College,Lahore in the duration of three months.

Inclusion criteria:

Female Students of MBBS.

Data Collection and analysis:

A questionnaire was given; which was filled under supervision to female students of First year and 4th year.Analysis was done on SPSS version 17.

.Results:

About 87% of our respondents state that medicine is a well suited profession for girls, and out of these respondents 90% are willing to continue their profession after graduation. While 63% had the opinion that Gender will have potent influence over their choice of specialty in future. More than 50% of respondents claimed that their choice of specialty had changed owing to the amount of time they spent in this field and observed closely.

Conclusions:

Most of female medical undergraduate are satisfied with their career choice as being doctor. Families had strong influence of their choice of specialty.

Key words: Career choice, Gender, Medical under graduates

INTRODUCTION:

Purpose of the study is to investigate the Career choices among medical students. The area that is to explore in this research will be helpful for the students to determine the effects of selection, educational background, age and gender on strength of motivation to attend and pursue medical school.

Career is a person's “course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". It is related to an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education,^[1] and is considered to be a person’s lifework.

Medicine is the field of applied science related to the art of healing by diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.^[2] It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness in human beings.

Choosing a specialty is a complex process and may be influenced by several factors. There were some changes in the career choices of medical students. Interest in some specialties like surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics & gynecology declined. But the popularity of controllable lifestyle fields such as radiology, psychiatry, dermatology, and ophthalmology has been increased. Controllable lifestyle specialties have been defined as those that allow more personal time free for rest, leisure, and family. With the increase of women into medicine has come the concern that women are responsible for a growing interest in medical specialties with controllable lifestyles and decreased interest in primary care specialties. Despite the increasing representation of women in medicine, little has been known about how gender has affected specialty choice.^[3]

Career choice has generally been believed to be influenced by many factors including income, intellectual stimulation, role models, and prestige. Both men and women have been shown to select specialties based on some common factors like individual aptitude, personality, and positive clerkship experiences, while men place greater emphasis on prestige, income and manual dexterity skills than women. Although women have traditionally preferred specialties like pediatrics and obstetrics & gynecology, it has been supposed that the preferences of a specialty with a controllable lifestyle such as radiology, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine are more appealing to women who want to balance family and career responsibilities. If we do not change the system to encourage and enable women to contribute maximally to their profession, academic specialties can lose a major source of potential talent. The relatively stable work qualities of specialties in comparison with other medical disciplines would seem likely to appeal to female students or doctors.^[4]

[...]

^[1]. Career (2014). The free Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/career

^[2]. Medicine (2014). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/medicine

^[3]. Theories of Career Choice (2005). Retrieved form https://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/career-choice-theories.htm

^[4]. Lee., C. L. (2012). Gender differences and specialty preference in medical career choice. Department of Pediatrics, Wonkwang University School of Medicine.