How Preferences of General Medicine Students for Specialty Choice Are Affected? a qualitative study

Equal distribution of human resources in health sectors was one of the main aspects of Alma-Ata Declaration (2000). Since physicians are among the skillful human resources in health sector, optimal allocation of medical specialties has been always a challenge for policy makers. Distribution of general medicine physicians and specialties is related to medical students’ preferences for speciality choice. This study aimed to identify the factors affecting preferences in choosing medical specialty.

This was a qualitative study based on the grounded theory. Through apllying snowball sampling, participants were selected from senior medical students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2016/2017and 28 interviews were conducted. Data analysis was done based on thematic analysis and applying MAXQDA18 software.

We extracted 4 main themes and 10 subthemes. Main themes included students’ perception of the medical specialties, students’ characteristics, medical specialties’ characteristics, and social conditions. 

In order to attract medical students to more needed medical specialities and optimal distribution of specialities, policy makers should consider both individual and social determinants of medical specialty choice.