The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the career choice of medicine: A cross-sectional study amongst pre-medical students in Pakistan.

Deterrents Medical education Motivations Pre-medical Specialization

Journal

Annals of medicine and surgery (2012)
ISSN: 2049-0801
Titre abrégé: Ann Med Surg (Lond)
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101616869

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Sep 2022
Historique:
received: 24 05 2022
revised: 19 07 2022
accepted: 20 07 2022
pubmed: 13 8 2022
medline: 13 8 2022
entrez: 12 8 2022
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the lives of healthcare workers due to the frontline nature of their work. Their hard work and sacrifice have forged new perceptions of healthcare workers. These changes may potentially influence students' interest in medicine. This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected premedical students' decisions to pursue medicine as a career. A cross-sectional study using a self-designed online questionnaire was carried out amongst pre-medical students across Pakistan. A total of 1695 students from 93 public and private schools filled in the survey. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly more pre-medical students want to pursue medicine (60.7%-62.9%) and less are unsure (20.2%-17%). Students are significantly more likely to be motivated to pursue medicine due to altruistic benefits to society (57% vs. 62.7%) and be deterred by the risk of contracting infections on duty (10%-14.6%). There is a minor but significant increase in the popularity of internal medicine (17.1%-18.9%), public health (4.1% vs. 5.7%), emergency medicine (3.8% vs. 5.7%), pediatrics (3.8% vs. 4.7%), and radiology (2.1% vs. 2.9%). Most pre-medical students felt that doctors routinely undergo physical and emotional turmoil (84%). Although awareness of hardships faced by medical professionals has increased, motivation to pursue medicine has grown. Through understanding trends in the motivations of students to pursue medicine, medical schools can accommodate the expectations of incoming students and reach out to potential applicants.

Sections du résumé

Background UNASSIGNED
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the lives of healthcare workers due to the frontline nature of their work. Their hard work and sacrifice have forged new perceptions of healthcare workers. These changes may potentially influence students' interest in medicine. This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected premedical students' decisions to pursue medicine as a career.
Methods UNASSIGNED
A cross-sectional study using a self-designed online questionnaire was carried out amongst pre-medical students across Pakistan.
Results UNASSIGNED
A total of 1695 students from 93 public and private schools filled in the survey. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly more pre-medical students want to pursue medicine (60.7%-62.9%) and less are unsure (20.2%-17%). Students are significantly more likely to be motivated to pursue medicine due to altruistic benefits to society (57% vs. 62.7%) and be deterred by the risk of contracting infections on duty (10%-14.6%). There is a minor but significant increase in the popularity of internal medicine (17.1%-18.9%), public health (4.1% vs. 5.7%), emergency medicine (3.8% vs. 5.7%), pediatrics (3.8% vs. 4.7%), and radiology (2.1% vs. 2.9%). Most pre-medical students felt that doctors routinely undergo physical and emotional turmoil (84%).
Conclusions UNASSIGNED
Although awareness of hardships faced by medical professionals has increased, motivation to pursue medicine has grown. Through understanding trends in the motivations of students to pursue medicine, medical schools can accommodate the expectations of incoming students and reach out to potential applicants.

Identifiants

pubmed: 35957649
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104219
pii: S2049-0801(22)00979-7
pmc: PMC9357277
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

104219

Informations de copyright

© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd.

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Auteurs

Raisa Saleh (R)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Russell Seth Martins (RS)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Muhammad Saad (M)

Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Nixor College, Karachi, Pakistan.

Asad Saulat Fatimi (AS)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Gaurav Kumar (G)

Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, 74200, Pakistan.

Manzar Abbas (M)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Inaara Akbar (I)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Hamzah Jehanzeb (H)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Shamila Ladak (S)

Medical College, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Shamama Kaleem (S)

Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, 74200, Pakistan.

Sarah Nadeem (S)

Society for Promoting Innovation in Medicine (SPIE), Center for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Section of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, 74800, Pakistan.

Classifications MeSH