Factors Affecting the Choice of a Career in the Field of Surgery Among Medical Students of Karachi

Introduction Medical students choose to pursue their careers based on multiple internal and external factors. These factors, in turn, not only affect their personal future but the overall status of the health care system of their country. A recent decline in the interest of medical students towards the surgical career is being observed and, therefore, the factors influencing their choice need to be evaluated. We aimed to identify these factors in medical students of a public sector university of Karachi. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at Dow Medical College from April 2018 to May 2018. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to a sample of 250 students. Besides sociodemographic factors, the choice of career was identified and the factors that influenced it were assessed. Students' opinions were collected using a Likert scale. Data were entered and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23.0 (IBM, NY, USA). Frequencies were calculated for individual variables. The chi-square test was used to measure statistical differences between categorical variables and a p-value of <0.05 was considered to be significant. Results In this study, 224 out of 250 questionnaires were returned with complete data, yielding a response rate of 89.6%. We found that 48.2% of students reported a desire to pursue a career in surgery. Students whose fathers were more qualified and belonged to the field of health care were more likely to pick a surgical career (p-value of 0.034 and 0.039, respectively). Students who were willing to pursue a path in surgery more often thought that the social standing of surgeons had its importance (p=0.037). These students also agreed that high salary has a role to play in affecting the choice of career (p=0.023). The most common factors that encouraged students for the choice of a surgical career included the practical implication of skills (57.4%) followed by an academic interest in the field (53.7%), and high income (42.6%). The most common discouraging factors included lifestyle and long working hours (56.9%), followed by less academic interest (31%). Conclusion Our study provides a valuable insight into the factors that influence the choice of medical students for pursuing a career in surgery. We also identified the factors that demotivated them from doing so. In our opinion, better incorporation of surgery into the curriculum, proper attention given to students during their surgical rotation and restructuring of the surgical training program are some of the ways that may improve the interest of students in the field of surgery.