A questionnaire survey of first-year graduate-entry medical students’ perception of obstetrics and gynaecology as a future career speciality

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of first-year graduate-entry medical students of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, to enhance its appeal to them during their attachments in the speciality in later years, in the hope of increasing their recruitment into it. Seventy-seven questionnaires were returned out of 147 distributed over two academic years (52.38% response rate). Three (3.9%) would consider the speciality as first career choice and 38 (61.3%) would consider it as a second option. Although over a fifth perceived the demerits of the speciality, more than half endorsed its merits, which showed the need to address their concerns and harness their enthusiasm. Being a female was the only factor found to be significantly associated with choosing the speciality as a career (p < .001) and male respondents reported barriers, which need to be addressed. A bias towards Obstetrics was noted, which may reflect a focus on the Labour Ward during their attachment and necessitate broader exposure. As students may have pre-conceived ideas early in their studies, selection of applicants may become important for better recruitment.

IMPACT STATEMENT

• What is already known about this subject? The perception of third- and second-year graduate entry medical students of the speciality of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is biased towards Obstetrics, and they have apprehensions about the challenges of training and working in it.

• What do the results of this study add? The views of first-year graduate-entry medical students were broadly consistent with the views of their second and third year colleagues, indicating that they have pre-conceived views that need to be addressed early, though they were receptive of some merits, which showed need to harness their enthusiasm.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or future research? More effort and research are required to improve the perception of the speciality from entry to Medical School, and even student selection.

Keywords:

• First year
• graduate entry
• medical students
• obstetrics and gynaecology
• career
• recruitment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the first year graduate-entry medical students who completed the questionnaire.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

Not required for a medical student questionnaire survey.

Contributions to manuscript

SI: Idea, questionnaire development, data collection and analysis, manuscript drafting.

EK: Supervised the work, revised the questionnaire, data collection, manuscript revising and editing.