Abstract
BackgroundStudents’ choice of medical specialties has evolved throughout year, with a growing interest in quality of life and in technological specialties. We investigated the repartition of such choices in the world and its influencing factors with a focus on the gender's influence, for helping policy-makers to deal with medical shortage and territorial to specialty disconnect.MethodsA systematic search was conducted on MEDLINE and Scopus from January 2010 to January 2020. Data extraction and analysis followed JBI and PRISMA recommendations. The selected articles had to focus on medical students, detail their choice of specialty, and look for factors influencing their choice. Articles were excluded if they only assessed the attractiveness of a specialty, or evaluated a public policy. This review was registered on PROSPERO, CRD 42020169227.Findings751 studies were screened, and fifty-four were included. Surgery and internal medicine were the most wanted specialties, both in occidental and non-occidental countries. The main factors influencing the choice of specialty were lifestyle, work-life balance and discipline interest, with variation across different countries. Gender clearly affected this choice with 63.7% of men willing radiology and 14.7% of men in obstetrics and gynecology.InterpretationInfluential factors vary with specialty and are affected by the country of residence. Gender has a great impact in students’ willingness to work in specific specialties. Policymakers should adapt their appealing strategies according to the country and the medical discipline concerned.FundingThe authors have no support or funding to report.
Highlights
Even if the number of physicians is higher than ever, the subspecialisations induced by new medical knowledge leads to a disconnect between specialists working in the world and population needs [1]
Specialties: in the US, men-to-female ratio was 4.9:1 in obstetrics and gynecology [6], 24.6% of last-year male medical students would chose internal medicine compared with 11.8% female in Rwanda [7], or in Korea, where 2.9% of male would be interested in paediatrics for 10.7% of woman [8]
We developed a search strategy according to Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) reviewers manual [13] based on recommendations for systematic review of etiology and risk
Summary
Even if the number of physicians is higher than ever, the subspecialisations induced by new medical knowledge leads to a disconnect between specialists working in the world and population needs [1]. Medical students’ choices have evolved throughout time, with a growing interest in quality of life or in technological excellence [5]. Students’ choice of medical specialties has evolved throughout year, with a growing interest in quality of life and in technological specialties. The main factors influencing the choice of specialty were lifestyle, work-life balance and discipline interest, with variation across different countries. Gender clearly affected this choice with 63.7% of men willing radiology and 14.7% of men in obstetrics and gynecology. Gender has a great impact in students’ willingness to work in specific specialties Policymakers should adapt their appealing strategies according to the country and the medical discipline concerned.
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