Subject preferences of first- and second-year medical students for their future specialization at Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Chitwan, Nepal – a questionnaire-based study

Abstract

Introduction

The selection of a discipline for future specialization may be an important factor for the medical students’ future career, and it is influenced by multiple factors. The interest of students in the early stages can be improved in subjects related to public health or of academic importance, as per need.

Methods

A questionnaire-based study was conducted among 265 first- and second-year medical students of Chitwan Medical College, Nepal to find out their subject of preference for postgraduation and the factors affecting their selection along with their interesting basic science subject. Only the responses from 232 completely filled questionnaires were analyzed.

Results

The preference of the students for clinical surgical (50.9%), clinical medical (45.3%), and basic medical (3.9%) sciences for postgraduation were in descending order. The most preferred specialty among male students was clinical surgical sciences (56.3%), and among female students, it was clinical medical sciences (53.6%). Although all the students responded to their preferred specialty, only 178 students specified the subject of their interest. General surgery (23.4%), pediatrics (23.4%), and anatomy (2.4%) were the most favored subjects for postgraduation among clinical surgical, clinical medical, and basic medical sciences specialties, respectively. More common reasons for selection of specific subject for future career were found to be: personal interests, good income, intellectual challenge, and others.

Conclusion

Many students preferred clinical surgical sciences for their future specialization. Among the reasons for the selection of the specialty for postgraduation, no significant reason could be elicited from the present study.

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Keywords:

• career
• surgical
• medical
• specialization

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all students who participated and offered their precious time for the completion of this study and also offer their heartfelt thanks to Mr Gobind Dhungana for his constant support in statistical analysis. Additionally, we also acknowledge Chitwan Medical College Institutional Review Committee for providing ethical clearance for this study.

Disclosure

The authors have not received any funding or benefits from institution or elsewhere to conduct this study. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Author contributions

All authors contributed to data collection and analysis, drafting the manuscript, and reviewing and approving the final submitted manuscript.