Factors influencing Saudi medical students and interns’ choice of future specialty: a self-administered questionnaire

Figures & data

Table 1 Percentage of Saudi physicians per specialty working at Saudi Ministry of Health hospitals³

Percentage of Saudi physicians	Specialty
33.0	General practitioner
43.1	Dentistry
19.1	Internal medicine
21.4	General surgery
12.9	Orthopedics
17.2	Urology
12.4	Cardiothoracic surgery
17.7	Neurosurgery
13.9	Plastic
22.6	ENT
25.6	Ophthalmology
14.9	Obstetrics and gynecology
17.1	Cardiology
8.0	Chest disease
38.6	Skin and venereology
32.2	Neurology
19.4	Public health
25.0	Tropical medicine
21.9	Radiology
9.4	Laboratory
4.6	Anesthesia
46.7	Physical medicine
22.8	Pediatric
21.6	Psychiatry
26.7	Forensic medicine
22.0	Family medicine
11.4	Emergency medicine
13.9	Intensive care
7.3	Nephrology
15.0	Pediatric surgery
24.5	Blood disease
23.1	Gastroenterology
37.3	Endocrinology
19.2	Oncology
8.6	Vascular disease
34.2	Others
23.0	Total

Note: ENT, ear, nose, and throat.

Table 2 Motivational factors with academic level influence

Motivational factor	Medical students (n=310)	Medical interns (n=66)	Total number	P-value
Controllable lifestyle	130	38	168	0.020
Prestige	7	0	7	0.61
Subspecialty choice	40	9	49	0.87
Residency training intensity	14	2	16	0.058
Clinical rotation experience	40	3	43	0.052
Income	15	3	18	0.90
Working hours	6	0	6	0.25
Personal interest	7	0	7	0.218
Role model effect	7	2	9	0.70
Nature of patient care	1	0		0.39
Training place	1	0	1	0.39
Family influence	15	2	17	0.52
Future job security	10	4	14	0.27

Table 3 Specialty choices and sex influence

Specialty	Male (n=126)	Female (n=253)	Total (n=379)	P-value
Internal medicine	18	38	56	0.84
General surgery	13	21	34	0.51
Pediatrics	14	13	27	0.033
Obstetrics and gynecology	3	18	21	0.058
Emergency medicine	17	10	27	0.0006
Family medicine	6	29	35	0.034
Radiology	3	11	14	0.339
Neurology	4	9	13	0.84
Dermatology	5	8	13	0.68
Neurosurgery	4	9	13	0.84
Ophthalmology	4	13	17	0.38
ENT	5	7	12	0.52
Plastic surgery	1	7	8	0.208
Cardiac surgery	1	6	7	0.28
Thoracic surgery	5	3	8	0.070
Vascular surgery	0	1	1	0.48
Anesthesia	1	1	2	0.61
Pathology	2	5	7	0.79
Others	4	4	8	0.309
Undecided	9	32	41	0.104

Note: The bold values indicate specialties that are statistically significant between male and female sex when choosing specialty.

Abbreviation: ENT, ear, nose, and throat.

Table 4 Choice of future training place

Training place	Male (n=125)	Female (n=146)	Total number (n=271)	P-value
Local (Saudi health specialties programs)	78	140	218	0.22
International (USA, Canada, others)	47	106	153	0.39

Table 5 Dependent variable: motivational factor

Model	Nonstandardized coefficients		Standardized coefficients	T	P-value
	Beta	Standard error	Beta
Constant	3.008	1.197		2.513	0.012
Age	−0.573	0.530	−0.063	−1.081	0.280
Sex	1.060	0.420	0.150	2.523	0.012
Level	−0.172	0.200	−0.053	−0.859	0.391
GPA	−0.023	0.161	−0.008	−0.144	0.885

Abbreviation: GPA, grade point average.

Figure 1 Distribution of specialty preferences among participants.

Note: ENT, ear, nose, and throat.

Ministry of HealthKingdom of Saudi Arabia: Statistics Book2014 Available from: http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/Statistics/Book/Pages/default.aspxAccessed Dec 2013

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