• J Surg Educ · Sep 2010

    Medical students and general surgery--Israel's National Survey: lifestyle is not the sole issue.

    • Haggi Mazeh, Ido Mizrahi, Ahmed Eid, Herbert R Freund, and Tanir M Allweis.
    • Department of Surgery, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. haggi.mazeh@gmail.com
    • J Surg Educ. 2010 Sep 1;67(5):303-8.

    BackgroundIn recent years, a significant decline in the number of medical school graduates who choose general surgery as a career has been noted in Israel. The aim of this study is to characterize the factors that deter Israeli medical students from choosing general surgery. Previous studies in the United States identified lifestyle and financial issues as the most important factors.MethodsA web-based survey was distributed to graduating medical students throughout Israel. The survey covered different factors and aspects affecting career choice, requiring participants to rate their choices with a 1-5 score.ResultsIn all, 218 surveys were completed; 72 (33%) students considered general surgery before the surgical clerkship versus only 48 (22%) students after. Professional interest and satisfaction (4.7) were ranked as the most important factors for choosing a residency, followed by an amiable working atmosphere (4.3). The 2 strongest deterrents from general surgery were doctors' inter-relationships (3.5) and compromised lifestyle (3.3). The decision to avoid surgery can be reversed by improving both lifestyle (3.5) and inter-relationships (3.0), but it is less influenced by a substantial increase in residents' salary.ConclusionsMore medical graduates would consider general surgery as a career option if the lifestyle and inter-relationships were perceived as better. An increase in monetary reward did not seem to have a paramount impact among Israeli medical graduates. The surgical clerkship is an important turning point in the students' attitude toward surgery as a career and efforts must be made to improve students' experience significantly during this clerkship.Copyright © 2010 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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