title: Emigration-related attitudes of the final year medical students in Croatia: a cross-sectional study at the dawn of the EU accession.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the emigration-related attitudes of final year medical students in Croatia at the dawn of the EU accession in 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  All final-year medical students at four Croatian medical schools (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, and Osijek) were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey on emigration attitudes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 260 respondents (response rate 61%), 90 students (35%) reported readiness for permanent emigration, expecting better quality of life (N=22, 31%), better health care organization (N=17, 24%), more professional challenges (N=10, 14%), or simply to get a job (N=8, 11%), while the least common expectation were greater earnings (N=7, 10%). The most common target countries were Germany (N=36, 40%), USA and Canada (N=15, 17%), and UK (N=10, 11%). In a multivariate analysis, readiness for permanent emigration was associated with an interest in undertaking a temporary training abroad (odds ratio [OR] 6.87; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.83-16.72), while the belief that the preferred specialty could be obtained in Croatia appeared protective against emigration (OR 0.26; 95% CI 0.12-0.59).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite shortages of health care workers in Croatia, the percentage of students with emigration propensity was rather high. Prevalent negative perception of the Croatian health care and recent Croatian accession to the EU pose a threat of losing newly graduated physicians to EU countries.
authors.affiliation: Ivana Kolčić, Šoltanska 2, 21000 Split, Croatia, ikolcic@mefst.hr.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kolčić
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cikeš
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boban
authors.forename: Jasna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bućan
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Likić
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Curić
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dogaš
authors.forename: Ozren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Polašek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D017523:Croatia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult