Specialty choice in times of economic crisis: a cross-sectional survey of Spanish medical students

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• dc.contributor.author Harris, Jeffrey E.ca
• dc.contributor.author González López-Valcárcel, Beatrizca
• dc.contributor.author Ortún Rubio, Vicenteca
• dc.contributor.author Barber Pérez, Patriciaca
• dc.date.accessioned 2017-05-26T09:17:17Z
• dc.date.available 2017-05-26T09:17:17Z
• dc.date.issued 2013
• dc.description.abstract Objective: To investigate the determinants of specialty choice among graduating medical students in Spain, a country that entered into a severe, ongoing economic crisis in 2008. Setting: Since 2008, the percentage of Spanish medical school graduates electing Family and Community Medicine (FCM) has experienced a reversal after more than a decade of decline. Design: A nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted online in April 2011. Participants: We invited all students in their final year before graduation from each of Spain's 27 public and private medical schools to participate. Main outcome measures: Respondents’ preferred specialty in relation to their perceptions of: (1) the probability of obtaining employment; (2) lifestyle and work hours; (3) recognition by patients; (4) prestige among colleagues; (5) opportunity for professional development; (6) annual remuneration and (7) the proportion of the physician's compensation from private practice. Results: 978 medical students (25% of the nationwide population of students in their final year) participated. Perceived job availability had the largest impact on specialty preference. Each 10% increment in the probability of obtaining employment increased the odds of preferring a specialty by 33.7% (95% CI 27.2% to 40.5%). Job availability was four times as important as compensation from private practice in determining specialty choice (95% CI 1.7 to 6.8). We observed considerable heterogeneity in the influence of lifestyle and work hours, with students who preferred such specialties as Cardiovascular Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology valuing longer rather than shorter workdays. Conclusions: In the midst of an ongoing economic crisis, job availability has assumed critical importance as a determinant of specialty preference among Spanish medical students. In view of the shortage of practitioners of FCM, public policies that take advantage of the enhanced perceived job availability of FCM may help steer medical school graduates into this specialty.
• dc.description.sponsorship The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, through Grant ECO2010–21558 to BGL as the principal investigator, supported the development, execution and analysis of the survey described in this study.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdfca
• dc.identifier.citation Harris JE, Gónzález B, Ortún V, Barber P. Specialty choice in times of economic crisis: a cross-sectional survey of Spanish medical students. BMJ Open. 2013;3(2):e002051. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002051
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002051
• dc.identifier.issn 2044-6055
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/32176
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher BMJ Publishing Groupca
• dc.relation.ispartof BMJ Open. 2013;3(2):e002051.
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/ECO2010–21558
• dc.rights © BMJ Publishing Group http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002051 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/legalcode.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
• dc.subject.other Medicina -- Ensenyament -- Espanya
• dc.title Specialty choice in times of economic crisis: a cross-sectional survey of Spanish medical studentsca
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion