Rohama Samar, Syed Ahsan Ali, Victoria Samar, Sara Samar, Sajjad Ali Khan, Summaira Mansoor.
Factors Affecting the Choice of Sub-specialty among Medical Residents: a Cross-sectional Study.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;61(2):63-7.

Objective: To determine the factors that affect choosing medical specialties and sub-specialties. Background: Choosing a medical specialty is a complex and partially understood process. Several factors may affect the choice of specialty among residents. Study type, settings & duration: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Medicine, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi from March 2020 to August 2020.   Methodology: A total of 70 residents were included in the study. The Likert scale based questionnaire was developed by literature search and brain storming. Interviews were conducted through phone calls. Results: In our study, 70 residents were included from internal medicine and different sub- specialties of which 23 (32.9%) were males. Majority of them were from internal medicine. All of them were enrolled in the exit examination of our country. Main factors influencing the choice of specialty included a variety of medical problems (91.4%), academic experience (78.6%), autonomy potential (75.7%) and role model (68.6%) whereas financial reason (61.4%) and family influence (58.6%) had relatively less role. Conclusion: The most common factor influencing the choice of internal medicine and sub-specialty was variety of medical problems. There was no difference of gender in choice of specialty. We need to implement strategies to ensure job satisfaction, improved lifestyle and positive rotational experience.

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