engleski

Why do young people choose medical study? Case study Croatia, country in social and economic transition

Background: In a country with social and economic transition, particularly because of the sudden transfer from public to private health care sector, research was conducted in order to determine whether these changes influence young people’s motivation to choose medicine as a field of future development. Summary of work: The study was conducted on first-year students in the year 1998/1999 and ten years later. An identical, anonymous questionnaire on motives and encouragements was administered to both groups. They were asked to rank their motivation with 13 statements using a Likert scale. The statements were arranged into categories of internal and external motivations. Summary of results: In this ten-year period, the difference was noticed in motives of personal advantage (income, social status) ; External motivation influence was greater for the generation 2008/9. Conclusions: Although the decision of the young is influenced by the public opinion on MD and doctors' social status, it is a mission of the School of Medicine to perform a proactive role in the recruitment of the young, especially in the transition countries with a lack of medical doctors. These results could recommend whether to change the admission policies for choosing medical students towards present health care needs and requests.

medical students; motivation; medical study; Croatia

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