engleski

Who wishes to work in Family Medicine?

Background: Although a large number of the students will have to work in primary health care, Family Medicine does not seem to be an attractive area. Students generally believe that primary health care is not a prosperous field for personal development. Aim of the study: to analyse students' perception of reasons which make a specialty more prestigious. Participants were first and 6th (final) year students of Zagreb School of Medicine (N=462) in the academic year 2012/13. Since, this study was a part of a larger study a pre-validated anonymous questionnaire was administered containing also one open question on their reasons for difference in specialty prestige. Qualitative analysis of obtained data was obtained. Summary of results: Reflecting the reasons for certain specialty’s prestige most often were mentioned factors such as labour characteristics (hospital environment, vital decision making, stressful, responsible, often manual and invasive work, at the edge of life and death, which demands sacrifice, long working hours, night shifts, broad knowledge and sophisticated technology), treatment/therapy results (rapid, evident improvement or life rescue), specialisation characteristics (duration, severity, difficulty to obtain, subspecialisati on needed) and dealt with illness characteristics (type, acuteness, vital vulnerability, complexity, drug/therapy dependency and importance of the body part). Other factors included political and pharmaceutical industry influence, health system organisation, health care accessibility, society needs, income, media, fashion, possibility for private praxis, and stereotypes. However some students indicated there was no difference in various specialties’ prestige. Conclusion: Differences in prestige influence medical student choice of their future specialisation and it should be taken into consideration when planning medical career development.

family medicine; career choice; medical students; Croatia

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