The impact of clerkships on students’ specialty preferences: what do undergraduates learn for their profession?

Tanja Maiorova · Fred C. J. Stevens · Albert J J A Scherpbier · Jouke van der Zee

98 citations0/0 files storedMedical Education

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Diversity and Career in Medicine Innovations in Medical Education Medical Education and Admissions

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Clinical experiences and gender have been shown to influence medical students' specialty choices. It remains unclear, however, which aspects of experiences make students favour some specialties and reject others. This study aimed to clarify the effects of clerkships on specialty choice and to identify explanatory factors. METHODS: We carried out a longitudinal cohort study to collect data on career preferences and attitudes towards future careers among 3 cohorts of students before and after clerkships in surgery (n = 200), internal medicine (n = 277) and general practice (n = 184). Regression analyses were performed to identify the determinants of career choice and the role of gender. RESULTS: Exposure to clinical settings encourages students to opt for a career in the corresponding specialty. Men were more stimulated than women by the general practice clerkship. Gender had no clear role as a predictor of career preference. The major predictor of career choice in all 3 specialties was positive evaluation of work-intrinsic factors. A preference for working with acute patients and technology-oriented work, prestige orientation and insignificance of a controllable lifestyle were determinants of a preference for surgery. Students with a preference for general practice had almost opposite preferences. Those who chose internal medicine favoured a controllable lifestyle. DISCUSSION: Factors other than gender appear to drive specialty decisions. Work content, type of patients and lifestyle options play major roles. Consequently, along with teaching about the practice of medicine, the matching of specialty preferences with reality is an essential outcome of clerkships.

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References

1970Applied factor analysis 2003Influence of Controllable Lifestyle on Recent Trends in Specialty Choice by US Medical Students 1995Determinants of primary care specialty choice 2003Factors influencing career choice among medical students interested in surgery 1996The impact of gender on the choice of surgery as a career 2003Are there gender differences in choosing a surgical career?1997Motivation underlying career choice for internal medicine and surgery 2005Undergraduate experience of surgical teaching and its influence and its influence on career choice

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2021Clerkship Experiences During Medical School: Influence on Specialty Decision 2017How do workplaces, working practices and colleagues affect UK doctors’ career decisions? A qualitative study of junior doctors’ career decision making in the UK 2015Medical Specialty Choice and Related Factors of Brazilian Medical Students and Recent Doctors 2010Personality and values as predictors of medical specialty choice 2015‘You become a man in a man's world’: is there discursive space for women in surgery?

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