34953 Specialty choice motivations among diverse graduating medical students pursuing careers in dermatology

Abstract

Background: Efforts are needed to increase diversity in the dermatology workforce, but few empirical data exist on factors influencing medical student’s decision to pursue careers in dermatology. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using data from the 2016-2019 Association of American Medical Colleges Graduation Questionnaires. We calculated mean scores and β-coefficients using linear regression analyses for the importance of factors influencing specialty choice (0 = “no influence”, 1 = “minor influence”, 2 = “moderate influence”, and 3 = “major influence”) comparing graduating medical students intending to practice dermatology (GMS-D) and those pursuing other specialties (GMS-OS), and, among GMS-D, by sex, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Results: Among 57,393 participants, we found GMS-D (n = 1,336) compared with GMS-OS (n = 56,057) were more likely to report balance (mean: 2.60 vs. 2.14, respectively; β = 0.47; P < .001), family planning (2.15 vs. 1.67; β = 0.49; P < .001), salary (1.82 vs. 0.37; β = 0.40; P < .001), length of training (1.78 vs. 1.29; β = 0.50; P < .001), competition (1.47 vs. 1.18; β = 0.31; P < .001), family (1.32 vs. 0.95; β = 0.50; P < .001), and educational debt (0.96 vs. 0.73; β = 0.40; P < .001) as influencing specialty choice. Among GMS-D, females were less likely than males to report salary (1.71 vs. 2.0; β = -0.29; P < .001), length of training (1.70 vs. 1.90; β = -0.22; P < .001), competition (1.39 vs. 1.59; β = -0.25; P < .001), family (1.27 vs. 1.40; β = -0.21; P < .001), and debt (0.87 vs. 1.10; β = -0.24; P < .001) as influencing specialty choice; sexual minority were less likely than heterosexual students to report family planning (1.58 vs. 2.18; β = -0.61; P < .001) or family (0.74 vs. 1.36; β = -0.68; P < .001) as influencing specialty choice; and, factors did not differ significantly by race/ethnicity. GMS-D reported mentorship and balance as the most important factors. Conclusions: GMS-D are more likely than GMS-OS to report family, income and lifestyle factors as influencing specialty choice. Diverse backgrounds affect the importance of certain factors, although all GMS-D highly value mentorship and balance. These findings will inform efforts to build a more diverse workforce.