Abstract
The dwindling interest in surgery and surgical specialties raises the fears that the surgical man-power requirements of the society may not be met adequately in coming years. There is a need to explore ways of stimulating interest in surgery in order to forestall this. To identify factors that influence or predict the choice of surgery as a career by interns. A descriptive cross-sectional study of 271 interns was conducted using structured self administered questionnaires. The data obtained included demographic details, details of internship rotations, choice of specialty, reasons for nonconsideration of surgery and if the interns had role models, staff advisers and first degree relatives who were surgeons. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (SPSS software) with the level of significance at p < 0.05. There were 163 (60.1%) males and 108 (39.9%) females with a mean age of 25.8 years. The majority (97%) wished to commence residency training soon after internship; surgery (37.6%), and internal medicine (22.4%) were the most popular choices. Reasons for non-consideration of surgery included: stressful (46.1%), future family plans (41.3%) and difficult training (18.1%). Males were more likely to choose surgery than females (52.1% vs. 13.0%, p < 0.001). Married interns were less likely to choose surgery compared to their single colleagues (0% vs. 37.5%, p = 0.042). Having surgeons as role models, staff advisers or first degree relatives were significantly associated with selecting a career in surgery. Gender, marital status, having surgeons as role models, staff advisers or first degree relatives in medical school are significant factors influencing the choice of a career in surgery.
Highlights
Internship is a crucial phase in the life of a medical doctor
Changes have occurred in the organisation of postgraduate training worldwide, partly because of newer regulations about working time directives and because greater structuring and coupling between trainers and trainees are required in order to maximise the period of residency training.[2,3]
There are over 55 departments in the hospital and it is accredited by the national regulatory agencies to train a maximum of 160 interns annually
Summary
In ex-British commonwealth countries, it serves as a period between medical school and residency training when a young doctor is exposed to a greater interaction with older colleagues, specialists and patients at a level beyond what was encountered while in medical school.[1] It is often at this stage that ideas about the choice of specialty are cemented and life changing decisions made. The data obtained included demographic details, details of internship rotations, choice of specialty, reasons for nonconsideration of surgery and if the interns had role models, staff advisers and first degree relatives who were surgeons. Having surgeons as role models, staff advisers or first degree relatives were significantly associated with selecting a career in surgery. Conclusion: Gender, marital status, having surgeons as role models, staff advisers or first degree relatives in medical school are significant factors influencing the choice of a career in surgery.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
