Attitudes and barriers towards pursuing a surgical specialty in medical students and interns in Kuwait: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Surgery is a rewarding career yet; its popularity has been declining globally; therefore, placing the profession at risk. The objectives were to identify barriers and solutions to pursuing surgical-career for medical-students and interns in Kuwait. A cross-sectional anonymous-survey and a quasi-experimental research design was adopted to investigate perceived barriers to surgery and solutions among medical-students and interns. Two 5-point Likert scales presenting potential barrier & solutions were used. Further analysis explored differences related to gender, educational level, and graduates’ institution and comments collected for qualitative analysis. 362 responses collected, 207 students (62.9%), 122 interns (37.1%), and 33 others (9.12%) excluded. Total response rate of 49.6% and 51.2% interested in surgical specialty. A descriptive analysis (mean ± SD) was performed. Majority agreed/strongly agreed that long-working hours (4.2 ± 1.0), high stress levels (4.1 ± 1.0), quality of life (4.2 ± 1.0) difficulty in having child-care (3.8 ± 1.1) and pregnancy considerations (3.7 ± 1.1) constitute barriers towards selecting surgical specialty. Alarming observations of unprofessional attitudes of male surgeons, rendering surgery a harsh workplace. The most prominent solutions were working-hours reduction (4.3 ± 0.92), flexible maternity (4.4 ± 0.76)/ paternity leaves (4.2 ± 0.85) policies, research opportunities (4.4 ± 0.74), early student exposure to surgical workshops/discussions (4.13 ± 1.0), increasing mentors (4.1 ± 0.93), women role-models presence (4.0 ± 1.0), and payment increase (4.0 ± 0.92). In Kuwait, medical-students and interns perceived barriers and solutions mirrored those reported worldwide. Instituting effective solutions to dissolve barriers are essential to encourage recruitment in surgical specialties.