Influence of Reproductive Health Policy on West Texas Medical Students' Specialty and Residency Choices

Gender-based differences in medical student preferences are of growing interest. This study examines specialty choice and family planning preferences among medical students in Lubbock, Texas. It also assesses the impact of reproductive health policy changes on specialty choice and desired residency location.

A Qualtrics (Silver Lake) survey was sent to 172 first-year medical students from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine. Males' responses were compared with females' responses using an unpaired t test with a significance threshold of 0.05.

Surveys were returned by 90 male and 82 female participants. Results show that both genders exhibited moderate interest in primary care and surgical specialties, with males showing higher interest in becoming medical subspecialists (P=.0010). Female participants were less inclined than males to consider having a child during medical school (P=.0168) and residency (P=.0461). Males expressed lower concern than females about reproductive health policy impacts on specialty choice (P<.0001) and preferred residency location (P=.0003). Family planning considerations were equally moderate in impacting specialty choice for both genders.

The findings indicate that male students are more open to the idea of having a child during training and that reproductive health policy changes have had a larger influence on female students' specialty choice and desired match location. To support physicians-in-training, educators should integrate family planning discussions, prioritize reproductive health education, advocate for and improve residency transparency on parental leave policies, and help students navigate residency applications amid policy changes.