Specialty preferences among medical students in Botswana
Specialty preferences among medical students in Botswana
Blog Article
Abstract Background With the establishment of a new medical FOR HIM college in Botswana to train generalist-doctors and specialists, we set out to explore the career preferences of medical students, factors that influence their choices and attitude to local postgraduate training.Methods A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among medical students in their third to fifth year, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana.The structured, self-administered questionnaires which were hand-delivered covered demographic characteristics of responders, career choices, preferred location of specialisation and factors that influenced the choices.Results Of the 143 medical students approached, 116 (81.
0%) returned completed questionnaires.Of the responders, 102 (87.9%) intend to pursue postgraduate specialisation against 2 (1.7%) who declined; 12 (10.
3%) were undecided.The four most preferred specialties which constituted 68.1% were surgery (28.4%), paediatrics (19.
0%), internal medicine (12.9%), obstetrics and gynaecology (7.2%).There was male preference for surgery (p = 0.
04), while women were drawn more towards paediatrics and psychiatry (p = 0.04 and p = 0.01, respectively).Personal interest and aptitude was considered the most important factor among most responders (46.
2%), followed by enjoyment of the posting (19.8%).A high proportion of responders 80 (69.0%) preferred to specialise abroad for better exposure/opportunities (48.
3%), while for 15.5%, their preferred courses are not currently Wooden Train Set available locally.Conclusion Our findings indicated that while four major specialties are preferred, significant gender differences exist with female students leaning towards non-surgical disciplines.Students prefer specialising abroad on the pretext that foreign centres offer better training opportunities, and many specialist programmes are unavailable locally.