Table 1.
Medical students’ perceptions of the six specialties (n = 234)
| |
Pediatrics |
Anesthesiology |
General |
Orthopedic |
OB/GYN |
Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgery | Surgery | Medicine | ||||
| Interesting and challenging specialty |
46% |
43% |
62%‡ |
41%† |
71%§*‡† |
25%*࠻ |
| Advanced specialty |
36% |
44%* |
35%*‡ |
52%*† |
69%*† |
23%*‡†§ª |
| Boring specialty |
21% |
35%* |
14%‡ |
30%*† |
7%*ࠤ |
48%*†ª |
| Stressful specialty |
27% |
74%* |
94%*‡ |
48%*‡† |
81%*†§ |
13%*‡†§ª |
| Affords controllable lifestyle |
63% |
24%* |
0%*‡ |
11%*† |
8%*† |
96%*‡†§ª |
| Possible to work limited hours |
53% |
17%* |
2%*‡ |
10%*† |
12%*† |
91%*‡†§ª |
| Allows for family time |
61% |
23%* |
0%*‡ |
10%*† |
7%*† |
93%*‡†§ª |
| Long working hours |
25% |
62%* |
97%*‡ |
75%*† |
86%*‡† |
6%*‡†§ª |
| Prestigious specialty (population) |
33% |
5%* |
78%*‡ |
49%*‡† |
71%*ठ|
7%*†§ª |
| Prestigious specialty (colleagues) |
15% |
10%* |
46%*‡ |
34%*‡† |
61%*‡† |
2%*‡†§ª |
| Opportunity for private practice |
58% |
19%* |
46%*‡ |
83%*‡† |
90%*‡† |
37%*‡†§ª |
| High salary |
22% |
21%* |
32%*‡ |
79%*‡† |
84%*‡† |
30%ऻ |
| Reasonable ratio of lifestyle vs income |
58% |
20%* |
6%*‡ |
53%‡† |
45%‡† |
78%*‡†§ª |
| Academic opportunities |
45% |
46% |
58% |
46% |
78%*‡† |
8%*‡†§ª |
| Specialty other students positively consider |
67% |
1%* |
6%*‡ |
50%*‡† |
76%ࠤ |
32%*࠻ |
| Specialty in crisis |
7% |
97%* |
74%*‡ |
3%‡† |
3%‡† |
16%‡†§ª |
|
Specialty I am positively considering |
35% |
9%* |
20%* |
16%* |
34%ࠤ |
19%*໠|
| * p<0.001 vs pediatrics | Values are the percentage of agree/highly agree answers on a 5 point-Likert Scale |
‡ p<0.001 vs anesthesiology.
† p<0.001 vs surgery.
§ p<0.001 vs orthopedics.
ª p<0.001 vs OB/GYN.