Interest and perceived barriers toward careers in academic medicine among medical students at Alfaisal University – College of Medicine: A Saudi Arabian perspective

Abstract

Aims: [1] Identify the percentage of undergraduate students who are interested in academic medicine (AM) careers, [2] Explore the relationship between students’ characteristics, previous experiences and interest in AM careers and [3] Determine students’ perceived barriers toward AM careers at Alfaisal University – College of Medicine.Methods: An online, anonymous, random, self-rating survey was administered during spring 2013–2014 to second-year and third-year students (n = 302). Chi-square test was used to correlate between interest in AM careers and students’ characteristics. Mann–Whitney U-test was used to compare the mean 5-point Likert scale responses between male and female students.Results: A total of 231 students participated in the survey (response rate: 76.5%). A total of 32 students (13.9%) expressed interest in AM careers, and this percentage significantly differed by gender, academic year, interest in teaching and research and previous research experiences (p < 0.05). The top three barriers were “lower income” (77.5%), “competing pressures to fulfill clinical-teaching-research duties” (73.6%) and “lack of career advising” (69.7%). As opposed to males, females achieved higher statistically significant differences of means regarding: “competing pressures to fulfill clinical-teaching-research duties” (p < 0.001) and “lack of same-gender role models in AM careers” (p < 0.000).Conclusions: AM careers were unpopular by students. Curricular, extracurricular and institutional measures should be implemented to rectify this dilemma.