Attitudes and Brriers Towards Pursuing a Surgical Specialty in Medical Students and Interns in Kuwait: A Cross-Sectional Study

Exploring Factors Influencing Medical Trainees' Specialty Choice: Insights from a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey in Jordan

Phenomenon: Choosing a medical specialty is a critical decision that significantly impacts medical students' future career. Understanding the factors influencing this decision-making process is important for medical educators, policymakers, and healthcare providers to develop effective strategies that support and guide students in making informed decisions. Approach: We distributed an online self-administered questionnaire to clinical-year medical students (Years 4 to 6) and interns from all medical faculties in Jordan. The questionnaire gathered demographic information, specialty preferences, and factors influencing specialty decision-making. We analyzed the data using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Findings: 1805 participants completed the questionnaire (51.7% women). General surgery was the most preferred specialty among both genders, followed by internal medicine. Women significantly preferred family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and dermatology, whereas men significantly preferred urology, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, and internal medicine. The factors that most strongly influenced respondents' specialty preferences were the specialty's perceived stress levels and working hours, whereas the least influential factors were the specialty's perceived prestige and role models in the specialty. Women's specialty preferences were significantly more influenced by their family than men's. Men were substantially more influenced by specialties' perceived action-orientation and stress levels than women. Insights: Gender significantly influences medical trainees' specialty preferences in Jordan. Women tended to prefer specialties that provided greater work-life balance, such as family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and dermatology, while men were more drawn toward competitive and profitable surgical specialties like orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, urology, and general surgery. Additionally, family had a stronger influence on women's decisions, likely due to cultural and social expectations prioritizing marriage and family for women. Career counseling and mentorship programs are needed to provide guidance, support, and networking opportunities that can help women overcome barriers and biases that may hinder their career advancement.

Medical Students Understanding of The Scope of Plastic Surgery

Background  Plastic surgery has developed to benefit in a variety of challenging areas formerly handled by other disciplines. Medical students do not have a clear picture of plastic surgery as a career due to lacking scope, clinical practice, and understanding of plastic surgery as a clinical area of expertise, including general practitioners, nursing staff, medical trainees, and the general public, and misconceptions about the extent of reconstructive and plastic surgery. Methods  A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on Kuwait University Medical students (2nd-7th Years) over a period of 1 month. A questionnaire and a consent form were provided to eligible students. The inclusion criteria were Kuwait University Medical students from 2nd to 7th Years with signed consent form. The response was collected via email sent in coordination with the Vice Dean of Student Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine. Using statistical package for the social sciences, responses were statistically analyzed. Pearson's chi-square test was used to calculate p -values, where p  < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results  A total of 244 eligible medical students, 121 males and 123 females, were included in the study, with a mean age of 21 (±2) years. Similarly, 126 (51.6%) were preclinical students (2nd-4th-year students), while 118 (48.4%) were clinical students (5th-7th-year students). About 79.8% of medical students believed that plastic surgery plays an essential role in trauma management, whereas 9.2% did not consider plastic surgery significant for trauma management. This study found that only 15.5% of medical students were interested in enrolling in plastic surgery residency after graduation, while 47.1% of students did not consider plastic surgery residency after graduation. However, 37.4% were uncertain. The two most driving factors in deciding on plastic surgery residency were expected income (61.8%) and lifestyle (14.3%). Conclusion  Improving medical students' education quality can enhance their perception and awareness of plastic surgery. Students should be taught the broader scope of plastic surgery. The inclusion of formal training during undergraduation is the essence of time and should be added to or improved during plastic surgery rotations with more emphasis on reconstructive and hand/peripheral nerve surgery. Student-led interest groups can be a useful tool for educating students about their specialty.

Career Intentions and the Determining Factors among Health Science Students: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Health systemsneed adequate personnelin order to function; improvements in health-care services delivery, and coverage and the enjoyment of standard healthcare as a right, depend on the availability, mixture, quality, and accessibility of the health-care workforce.

PURPOSE

This review aimed to synthesize reliable evidence ondetermining factors among health science students' career choices to enhance policy advocacy for better health-care delivery.

METHOD

We sourced empirical studies from Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. From a total of 9,056 researcharticlesfrom 2010 to 2022, 27 studies with a total of 45,832 respondents met the inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

The majority of the studies were of medical students; internal medicine was the commonest choice (64.3%), with psychiatry and public health receiving lesser attention. In the four available studies of nursing students, midwifery was not chosen at all. There is a paucity of studies on this all-important concept for nursing students. The determining factors of choice of specialty were in four themes: personal, socioeconomic, professional, and educational/policy. Among the barriers to choosing particular specialties were low prestige among colleagues, stigma, long working hours, and poor public recognition.

CONCLUSION

The career choices of health science students do not reflect an adequate mix of health-care team members to meet the health-care needs of the world. Reforms of policy and educational training are needed.

Microaggressions: Prevalence and Perspectives of Residents and Fellows in Post-Graduate Medical Education in Kuwait

Objective

Microaggression prevalence in post-graduate medical education is unknown in Kuwait. The objective is to determine the prevalence of and capture the perspectives on microaggression among post-graduate trainees in Kuwait.

Materials and Methods

This is a cross-sectional study of an anonymous online survey targeting residents and fellows in Kuwait. Data collected included demographics, level of training, country of training, microaggression experience, types, and response. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Chi-square test and binary logistic regression, respectively.

Results

A total of 319 participants (69.1% females) included 52% junior residents, 39.2% senior residents, and 8.78% fellows. Forty-three percent were aware of the microaggression definition. The percentage was significantly higher in respondents from Gulf/Middle East Countries (57.9%) than from Kuwait. Approximately three-quarters experienced microaggressions. Senior residents were more likely to report exposure to microaggressions [Odds ratio (OR) = 2.4, P &lt; 0.05] and had higher odds of exposure than juniors (OR = 9.85, P &lt; 0.05). Exposure to microaggressions was highest in surgery/surgical specialties. The most common act of microaggression was verbal, followed by invalidation/dismissal of thoughts/ideas, and then acts of discrimination. Of those who experienced microaggressions, two-thirds thought that the experience had a psychological effect on them. Both groups reported low confidence in dealing with microaggressions (Gulf/Middle East Countries 18.8% and Kuwait 30.1%); the difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Microaggressions are common among post-graduate medical trainees in Kuwait. Implementation of strategies to manage it is necessary. Further research on its impact on medical-training outcomes is needed.