What Matters Most: Determinants Associated with the Selection of Medical Residencies in Qatar

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Participants

Variable^‡	Frequency
Age Mean (SD)	20 (2.0)
Gender
Female	136 (73.9)
Male	48 (26.1)
Nationality
Qatari	84 (45.7)
Non-Qatari	100 (54.3)
Marriage Status
Married	5 (2.7)
Not married	179 (97.3)
Father Education
Primary	6 (3.3)
Secondary	48 (26.1)
Tertiary	130 (70.6)
Mother Education
Primary	13 (7.1)
Secondary	32 (17.4)
Tertiary	139 (75.5)
Clerkship status*
Preclerkship	101 (55.0)
Clerkship	81 (44.4)
Training year*
Year 1	30 (16.3)
Year 2	30 (16.3)
Year 3	41 (22.3)
Year 4	41 (22.3)
Year 5	11 (6.0)
Year 6	29 (15.8)

Notes: ^‡Numbers were reported as n (%), otherwise specified. *Cumulative percentages may not add to 100% due to missing values.

Table 2 Association Between Demographic Data and Specialty Selection

Specialty Selection^‡	Undecided	Non-Surgical	Surgical	Mixed	p-value
Gender*
Female (n=136)	8 (5.9)	44 (32.4)	19 (14.0)	51 (37.5)	0.527
Male (n=48)	2 (2.1)	14 (29.2)	11 (22.9)	19 (39.6)
Nationality*
Qatari (n=84)	5 (6.0%)	27 (32.1%)	15 (17.9%)	33 (39.3%)	0.400
Non-Qatari (n=100)	4 (4.0%)	31 (31.0%)	15 (15.0%)	37 (37.0%)
Marital status*
Married (n=5)	0 (0.0%)	2 (40.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (40.0%)	0.72
Not Married (n=179)	9 (5.0%)	56 (31.3%)	30 (16.8%)	68 (38.0%)
Father’s education*
Primary (n=6)	0 (0.0%)	3 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (33.3%)	0.118
Secondary (n=48)	2 (4.2%)	13 (27.1%)	3 (6.3%)	26 (54.2%)
Tertiary n=130	7 (5.4%)	42 (32.3%)	27 (20.8%)	42 (32.3%)
Mother’s education*
Primary (n=13)	2 (15.4%)	1 (7.7%)	2 (15.4%)	4 (30.8%)	0.008
Secondary (n=32)	0 (0.00%)	10 (31.3%)	3 (9.4%)	13 (40.6%)
Tertiary (n=139)	7 (5.0%)	47 (33.8%)	25 (18.0%)	53 (38.1%)
Clerkship status*
Preclerkship (n=95)	-	27 (31.4%)	17 (19.8%)	42 (48.8%)	0.002
Clerkship (n=78)	-	31 (43.1%)	13 (18.1%)	28 (38.9%)

Notes: ^‡There were 17 incomplete responses. *Cumulative percentages may not add to 100% due to missing values.

Table 3 Association Between Specialty Selection and Determinants Influencing Medical Students’ Specialty Choice

Specialty Selection^‡	Non-Surgical	Surgical	Mixed	p-value
Work-life balance selected (n=61)	27 (44.3%)	5 (8.2%)	29 (47.5%)	<0.001
Work-life balance not selected (n=89)	28 (31.5%)	22 (24.7%)	38 (42.7%)
Social obligation selected (n=31)	9 (29.0%)	7 (22.6%)	15 (48.4%)	<0.001
Social obligation not selected* (n=119)	46 (38.7%)	20 (16.8%)	52 (43.7%)
Prestige and income selected (n=29)	13 (44.8%)	7 (24.1%)	9 (31.0%)	<0.001
Prestige and income not selected* (n=121)	42 (34.7%)	20 (16.5%)	58 (47.9%)
Place of practice selected* (n=66)	26 (39.4%)	11 (16.7%)	28 (42.4%)	<0.001
Place of practice not selected (n=84)	29 (34.5%)	16 (19.0%)	39 (46.4%)
Factors related to the specialty selected* (n=132)	47 (35.6%)	22 (16.7%)	62 (47.0%)	<0.001
Factors related to the specialty not selected (n=18)	8 (44.4%)	5 (27.8%)	5 (27.8%)
Role models selected (n=60)	25 (41.7%)	12 (20.0%)	23 (38.3%)	<0.001
Role models not selected* (n=90)	30 (33.3%)	15 (16.7%)	44 (48.9%)

Notes: ^‡There were 17 and 25 incomplete responses in specialty selection and determinants, respectively (distributed across categories). *Cumulative percentages may not add to 100% due to missing values.

Table 4 Respondent Residency Choices

Residency Choices	% of Students*
Anesthesia	5%
Clinical Radiology	7%
Community Medicine	2%
Dermatology	13%
Emergency Medicine	20%
ENT (Head and Neck surgery)	8%
Family medicine	7%
Internal medicine and its specialties	35%
Neurology	9%
Neurosurgery	11%
Obstetrics and Gynecology	18%
Ophthalmology	13%
Orthopedics	10%
Pathology	3%
Pediatrics	22%
Plastic Surgery	5%
Psychiatry and Mental Health	6%
Surgery	26%
Urology	14%
Do not know	8%

Notes: *Total exceeds 100% because students were permitted to select multiple options.

Figure 1 Determinants influencing medical students’ specialty choice.

Figure 2 Determinants influencing female and male respondents.

Figure 3 Determinants influencing medical students’ choice of specialization by specialty and gender.

Figure 4 Determinants influencing medical students’ choice of specialization by specialty and clerkship status.