ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2018  |  Volume : 12  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 215-219

Medical students' attitude toward anesthesia as a future career


1 Department of Clinical Affairs, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Anesthesia, King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3 Associate Professor Biostatistics, Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Abdulaleem Alatassi
King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh
Saudi Arabia
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/sja.SJA_367_17

Rights and Permissions

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the attitude of medical students at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) toward anesthesia as a specialty and to determine common factors influencing their career choice options. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Methods: The study was conducted between March 25, and April 20, 2017, at KSAU-HS. The survey was distributed among 5th and 6th years medical students. Data were collected through a validated hardcopy questionnaire of 16 multiple choice questions. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics, specialty preferences, what factors attract Saudi medical students to choose their preferred specialty and how they view the option of choosing anesthesiology as a career. Results: A total of 236 students completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents were in their 5th year of medical school representing (62%). The distribution of medical field interest ranged from (38%) surgery to (1%) anesthesiology. approximately, (60%) thought that controllable lifestyle was an important factor to consider in choosing a residency program. Only (45%) of respondents thought that prestige of specialty is a major factor that would influence their choice for a specialty. Conclusion: Based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that medical undergraduate students exposure to anesthesia specialty should be magnified. Greater efforts have to be made to increase the number of medical students preferring anesthesia through emphasizing on the positive aspects of the specialty.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed3828    
    Printed79    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded347    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 3    

Recommend this journal