title: Greek medical students' career choices indicate strong tendency towards specialization and training abroad.
abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the career choices, location preferences and criteria among medical students in Greece. We applied a questionnaire-based analysis using a sample of 591 students of four out of seven Greek Medical Schools. The sample included students of all academic years. The vast majority of students wish to specialize (97.6%), while general practice gathered a very low percentage (1.7%). The scientific challenge (61.4%) and interaction with patients (60.6%) seem to be the major influencing factors for most of the students' specialty preferences, whilst less common variables influencing career choice are the high demand/supply ratio for certain health services (40.4%), the income potential (31.4%), the active tempo (26.2%) and prestige (15%). 70.3% of those asked consider the possibility of specializing abroad. The low concern of Greek medical students for general practice reveals today's drastic deficiency in Greek primary health care. Such a situation will escalate, unless targeted strategies to produce more general practitioners are adopted. Furthermore, the results reflect a lower education and organizing level urging students to specialize abroad. The National Health System (NHS) should be reformed towards a rationalistic distribution of the medical specialties and medical workforce.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, General Hospital Asclepeion Voulas, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Efthimios D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Avgerinos
authors.forename: Pavlos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Msaouel
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Koussidis
authors.forename: Nikolaos C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Keramaris
authors.forename: Zacharias
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bessas
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gourgoulianis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D004501:Education, Medical; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates / Q000523:psychology; D006115:Greece; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007393:International Educational Exchange; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D009042:Motivation; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D013038:Specialization; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014195:Travel