Perception of the medical students on their future career in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences.

Abstract

Young physicians have many recruitment barriers in Iran. Therefore, for planning purpose, assessment of the attitudes of medical intern students towards their future career is important. This cross-sectional study assessed the view points of 300 medical students through a self administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software with P value < 0.05. Two hundred and forty students (80%) of the students had responded to the questionnaire. Among them, 67.5% were female with mean age of 21.7±2.4. The main factors for deciding to study in medicine were their interest (64.1%), family pressure (13.5%) and social prestige of medical career (9.8%). The mean score of attitudes was 2.3±0.6. In total, 24.5% of students demonstrated not having interest in studying medicine. The most important cause of their interest change was long duration of education (24.4%) and cost of studying in medicine (13.8%). In total, 88.6% of students had negative viewpoint towards their medical career in future. In general, the attitude of medical students toward their future career was negative.