Factors Influencing Medical Students and Interns in Choosing a Career in Saudi Arabia. A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose: Medical students are exposed to various specialties during their medical school. There are different factors that play a role that affect their decision to choose a specialty. In our study, we aimed to identify the factors that affect and influence medical students and interns to choose a specialty as their career. Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey that involved 4th, 5th, and 6th-year medical students and interns from different universities in Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, information about the medical school, their preferred specialty, and what are the factors influencing their career choice. Demographics were described as numbers and percentages for categorical variables and mean and standard deviation (SD) for numerical variables. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version (26.0). Results: A total of 1,178 participants with a mean age 23.1 were included. Among all participants, 40% of them were in their 6th year and the majority (84.1%) were from public medical schools. Among both genders, the most preferred specialty was internal medicine, followed by general surgery. The length of residency training (p=0.005), performing procedures in this specialty (p=0.006), and perceived gender bias in the specialty (<0.001) were factors significantly different between females and males in their career choice during residency. The most important factor related to the residency training that affected the decision among both genders was lifestyle during residency. However, factors related to being a consultant differed among both genders, where 54% of females stated that patients’ outcome in the specialty was the extremely important factor, whereas in males, controllable lifestyle was the extremely important factor. Conclusion: The most commonly chosen specialty was internal medicine, followed by general surgery for both genders. Different factors affected the decision among both genders. More emphasis on career planning is required during medical school to help graduates in choosing the proper specialty for them. Key words: career choice, medical education, medical school, postgraduate training