American Journal of Advanced Medical & Surgical Research

FACTORS AFFECTING CHOOSING OF FUTURE SPECIALTY AMONG INTERN PHYSICIANS, TABUK ARMED FORCES HOSPITAL, SAUDI ARABIA

Majed Mohammed Alanazi*, Hamoud Rgaallh Aljohani, Muath Mohammed Albalawi, Sultan Musaed Albalawi

dr.majed1992@gmail.com

Career, interns, specialty, Saudi Arabia.

The choice of interns for their postgraduate medical specialist training has an important influence on future work force in health care system, especially in times of shortage or oversupply of physicians, to elucidate the career preferences of Saudi interns as well as the factors which influence them to make the decision regarding which specialty to pursue. This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Salman Armed Forces hospital in Tabuk Province at Northwest Saudi Arabia. It included intern physicians trained at this hospital (n=70). A self-administered questionnaire was utilized. The study included 40 intern physicians. Almost two-thirds of them (65%) aged 24 years or less. More than half of them were males (55%). The commonest reported preferred specialties were internal medicine (17.5%), pediatrics (17.5%) and ophthalmology (15%). Some specialties such as anesthesia and community medicine were not reported at all as preferred specialties by the participants. There was no significant difference between male and female interns regarding preferred specialties. Concerning factors influencing career choice, personal interest (100%), future job opportunities (92.5%) and a chance to serve people (90%) were the most frequent agreed upon factors. More than half of them (57.5%) wanted a workshop on career or specialty counseling before starting the residency after completion of undergraduate studies. Intern physicians participating in this study report preferred specialties quite differ from those reported before in Saudi Arabia with no gender difference. Personal interest was reported by all as an influential factor on the formulation of their specialty preferences.