Document Detail


Medical students and general surgery--Israel's National Survey: lifestyle is not the sole issue.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21035770     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: In recent years, a significant decline in the number of medical school graduates who choose general surgery as a career has been noted in Israel. The aim of this study is to characterize the factors that deter Israeli medical students from choosing general surgery. Previous studies in the United States identified lifestyle and financial issues as the most important factors.
METHODS: A web-based survey was distributed to graduating medical students throughout Israel. The survey covered different factors and aspects affecting career choice, requiring participants to rate their choices with a 1-5 score.
RESULTS: In all, 218 surveys were completed; 72 (33%) students considered general surgery before the surgical clerkship versus only 48 (22%) students after. Professional interest and satisfaction (4.7) were ranked as the most important factors for choosing a residency, followed by an amiable working atmosphere (4.3). The 2 strongest deterrents from general surgery were doctors' inter-relationships (3.5) and compromised lifestyle (3.3). The decision to avoid surgery can be reversed by improving both lifestyle (3.5) and inter-relationships (3.0), but it is less influenced by a substantial increase in residents' salary.
CONCLUSIONS: More medical graduates would consider general surgery as a career option if the lifestyle and inter-relationships were perceived as better. An increase in monetary reward did not seem to have a paramount impact among Israeli medical graduates. The surgical clerkship is an important turning point in the students' attitude toward surgery as a career and efforts must be made to improve students' experience significantly during this clerkship.
Authors:
Haggi Mazeh; Ido Mizrahi; Ahmed Eid; Herbert R Freund; Tanir M Allweis
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of surgical education     Volume:  67     ISSN:  1878-7452     ISO Abbreviation:  J Surg Educ     Publication Date:    2010 Sep-Oct
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-01     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101303204     Medline TA:  J Surg Educ     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  303-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2010 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. haggi.mazeh@gmail.com
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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