Future Dreams of Junior and Senior Medical Students at a Public Saudi Medical School

BACKGROUND

Medical education is a challenging profession requiring students to acquire various skills and develop them continuously before and after graduation. The study aimed to assess the students' preference toward specialty and determine their preferred residency program and future ambitions regarding administrative and leadership positions.

METHODOLOGY

This is a cross-sectional self-administered survey that included medical students in 1st year, and 5th year and internship at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU). The questionnaire consisted of demographic information and questions about the student's choices regarding plans.

RESULTS

Four hundred and fifty-eight (458) medical students out of 583 students (55.5% junior and 44.5% senior students) enrolled themselves in the study and completed the survey. Findings revealed that medical students' top five preferred future general medical specialties were surgery (34.5), followed by internal medicine (18.3), family medicine (17.2), dermatology (14.6), and emergency medicine (15.9). The junior students were found to be more inclined toward dermatology, medical genetics, and surgical general specialties. The findings showed that 63% of the students were interested in becoming future leaders, with 52.8% of them wishing to become head of a medical department. When asked about their desired qualifications, 85.8% preferred the Saudi Board.

CONCLUSION

Surgery was the most favorable specialty among medical students, followed by internal medicine, family medicine and dermatology, and emergency medicine. The study showed a significant difference between males and females and seniors and juniors in preference of specialty and medical qualification, the female medical students prefer to specialize in dermatology (p=0.027), neurology (p=0.028), and obstetrics and gynecology (p=0.001) as a general specialty significantly more than male medical students. It shows that students are interested in future leadership goals.

The immunological response among COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) often results in pneumonia and can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is one of the most significant causes of death in patients with COVID-19. The development of a “cytokine storm” in patients with COVID-19 causes progression to ARDS. In this scoping review, we investigated the effect of pro-inflammatory cytokines in inducing moderate and severe ARDS outcomes. A comprehensive search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar to implement a broad query that captured all the relevant studies published between December 2019 and September 2020.We identified seven studies that evaluated the immune response in COVID-19 patients with ARDS. The white blood cell counts (WBCs), CRP, and IL-6 were higher in the moderately presenting ARDS patients, critically ill patients, and those with more severe ARDS. This study may contribute to better patient management and outcomes if tailored immune marker interventions are implemented in the near future.