• World Neurosurg · May 2024

    Factors Affecting Turkish Medical Students' Pursuit of a Career in Neurosurgery: A Single Center Survey Study.

    • Fatih Çalış, Abdullah Talha Şimşek, Neslihan Gökmen İnan, Nur Topyalın, Baha E Adam, Çimen Elias, Muhammed Emin Aksu, Mohammed Aladdam, Güliz Gültekin, Muhammet Hüseyin Sorkun, Müjgan Tez, and Naci Balak.
    • Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Göztepe Prof. Dr. SüleymanYalçın City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye.
    • World Neurosurg. 2024 May 1; 185: e926e943e926-e943.

    BackgroundStatistics show that over the past 2 decades, even in high-income countries, fewer and fewer students have listed neurosurgery as their top career option. Literature on medical students' pursuit of neurosurgical careers in middle- and low-income countries are scarce. The aim of this research, conducted in Turkey with a middle-income economy, was to contribute insights relevant to medical education and neurosurgery across the world.MethodsA survey was conducted with a target sample of fourth-year (167 students), fifth-year (169 students), and sixth-year (140 students) medical students (476 in total) from the Medical School at Istanbul Medeniyet University in Turkey. The response rates of the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students were 62% (104/167), 53% (90/169), and 50% (70/140), respectively (in total, 266, including 147 female and 119 male).ResultsIn terms of the genuine intention, only 2.5% of men and 2.7% of women were committed to specializing in neurosurgery. This study further revealed that possible reasons for these students' low motivation to specialize in neurosurgery were their beliefs that in neurosurgery, the physical and psychological demands were high, and the night shifts were intense, meaning they would not have a social life or spare time for their hobbies; that morbidity/mortality were high; and that financial incentives were insufficient, especially in public institutions.ConclusionTurkish medical students did not rank neurosurgery at the top of their career choices. Possible reasons for this are socioeconomic factors and the inadequate introduction of neurosurgery to medical students.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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