Surveying Fourth-Year Medical Students Regarding the Choice of Diagnostic Radiology as a Specialty.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to survey fourth-year medical students, both those choosing and those not choosing diagnostic radiology as their specialty, regarding factors influencing their choice of specialty and their perceptions of radiology.


METHODS
A voluntary anonymous online survey hyperlink was sent to 141 US medical schools for distribution to fourth-year students. Topics included demographics, radiology education, specialty choice and influencing factors, and opinions of radiology.


RESULTS
A representative sampling (7%) of 2015 fourth-year medical students (n = 1,219; 51% men, 49% women) participated: 7% were applying in radiology and 93% were not. For respondents applying in radiology, the most important factor was intellectual challenge. For respondents applying in nonradiology specialties, degree of patient contact was the most important factor in the decision not to choose radiology; job market was not listed as a top-three factor. Women were less likely than men to apply in radiology (P < .001), with radiology selected by 11.8% of men (56 of 476) and only 2.8% of women (13 of 459). Respondents self-identifying as Asian had a significantly higher (P = .015) likelihood of selecting radiology (19 of 156 [12.2%]) than all other races combined (44 of 723 [6.1%]). Respondents at medical schools with required dedicated medical imaging rotations were more likely to choose radiology as a specialty, but most schools still do not require the clerkship (82%).


CONCLUSIONS
The reasons fourth-year medical students choose, or do not choose, diagnostic radiology as a specialty are multifactorial, but noncontrollable factors, such as the job market, proved less compelling than controllable factors, such as taking a radiology rotation.
New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York. Electronic address: ela9033@med.cornell.edu.
Elizabeth Kagan
EK
Arleo
Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Edward
E
Bluth
Department of Radiology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida.
Michael
M
Francavilla
Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Christopher M
CM
Straus
Department of Radiology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.
Sravanthi
S
Reddy
Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
Michael
M
Recht
D001290:Attitude; D002321:Career Choice; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
Medical students; radiology; specialty choice