• Sharon Orbach-Zinger, Racheli Rosenblum, Shuli Svetzky, Asenath Staiman, and Leonid A Eidelman.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Campus), Petah Tikva, Israel. sharonorbach@yahoo.com
• Isr Med Assoc J. 2011 Aug 1; 13 (8): 485-7.

BackgroundThere is a growing shortage of anesthesiologists practicing in Israel. This shortage is in contrast with the United States where anesthesiology has become a very desired specialty.ObjectivesTo discover what factors attract Israeli students to choose a residency and how students view the option of choosing anesthesiology.MethodsWe sent questionnaires to students in the Israeli and American programs at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine asking about factors that influenced their choice of residency and the advantages and disadvantages of a residency in anesthesiology. Although the students were studying at the same medical school and hospitals, students in the Israeli program were planning to enroll in Israeli residency programs while students in the American program planned to apply for residency in the United States.ResultsA significantly larger proportion of American students (12.9%) were interested in an anesthesiology residency when compared with the Israeli students (0%) (P = 0.034). American students considered salary and working conditions to be advantages of the anesthesiology residency while Israeli students considered Israeli working conditions and salaries to be a disadvantage.ConclusionsWhereas there is considerable interest among American students at Sackler Medical School in an anesthesiology residency, there is little interest among Israeli students.

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