SPECIALTY PREFERENCES AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN RIYADH CITY.

Background: Specialty selection is crucial for medical students in order to meet thedemands of Ministry of Health.This study profiles the specialty preferences of undergraduate medical students in Riyadh city and the factors influencing them. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on387 undergraduate medical students in three medical colleges (College of Medicine Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, College of Medicine King Saud University andCollege of MedicineAl Maarefa Colleges for Science & Technology) in Riyadh city. The study was conducted during April and June 2014. Using avalidatedelectronically-administered structured questionnaire, wecollected data on demographic characteristics and specialty preferences of consenting students. Students also indicated the motivational factors underlying their preferences via responses to a Likert-type scale. We used Chi-square and t-tests to examine relationships between data types. Results and Discussion: All participants were clear abouttheirspecialtypreference. Career specialty preferencesof the participants are as follows:90(23.3%) participants chose surgery, 49 (12.7%) selected internal medicine,38 (9.8%) students preferred cardiology, 32 (8.3%) each opted for neurology and ophthalmology,26 students selected pediatrics while 18 (4.7%) each expressed interest in orthopedics and psychiatry, 16 (4.1%)students desired to pursue family medicine, and 15 (3.9%) students desired to pursue emergencymedicine. Radiology was the least preferred specialty, with only 10 (2.6%) of the respondents indicating an interest. Gender did not appear to have a significant effect on career preferences of participants in our study. Students’ GPA scores had a significant influence on their specialty choices (p<0.01). Personal interest, desire to serve the people, future job opportunities, prospects for high income and earlier rotations in the specialty ranked high as motivational factors forselection of career choices of the participants. Conclusions: Surgery, internal medicine, cardiology, neurology, and ophthalmology are the most preferred career specialties of medical students in Riyadh city. Students’choice of subject is mostly influenced bypersonal interests, interest to serve, prospects for job and high income, and earlier learning experience.