title: Career choices of today's medical students: where does surgery rank?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The national junior doctor recruitment crisis prompts an appraisal of medical student attitudes to different career pathways. The purpose of this study was to perform a national review of surgical career intentions of Irish final year medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethical and institutional approval was obtained at each study location. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to final year students. Domains assessed included demographics, career plans and reasons associated. Anonymised responses were collated and evaluated. Categorical data were compared with Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses were obtained from 342 students in four medical schools of whom 78.6% were undergraduates. Over half (53%) were Irish, with Malaysia, Canada and the USA the next most common countries of origin. Only 18% of students intended to pursue surgery, with 60% stating they did not plan to, and 22% undecided. Of those who plan not to pursue surgery, 28% were unsure about a speciality but the most common choices were medicine (39%), general practice (16%) and paediatrics (8%). Reasons for not picking a career in surgery included long hours and the unstructured career path. Suggestions to improve uptake included earlier and more practical exposure to surgery, improved teaching/training and reduction in working hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study 18% of final year medical students identified surgery as their chosen career pathway. Although lifestyle factors are significant in many students' decision, perceived quality and duration of surgical training were also relevant and are modifiable factors which, if improved could increase interest in surgery as a career.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: A D K
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kerin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coyle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Coffey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians / Q000600:supply & distribution; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult