Influencing surgical career choice among final-year medical students: a multi-center cross-sectional study in Türkiye

The distribution of physicians among medical specialties have become increasingly misaligned to population healthcare needs, contributing to global shortages in several surgical fields.

Our aim was to analyze factors influencing specialty selection among final-year medical students across Türkiye.

This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted between May 2018 and July 2022. An anonymous online questionnaire was administered to final-year medical students in Türkiye, collecting data on sociodemographic characteristics, career intentions, and factors motivating or deterring interest in surgical specialties.

A total of 910 final-year medical students (median age: 24, IQR: 23-25) completely filled our survey. Approximately half of the participants reported interest in pursuing a surgical specialty. Male students were more likely to pursue surgery than female students (p < 0.001). Plastic and reconstructive surgery (12.6%) was the most desired surgical field, followed by ear nose and throat (11.4%). More than half of the students who had a surgeon in the family preferred surgical residency. The COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with a change in overall specialty selection but had a significant impact on motivators and deterrents from surgical specialties. The most common factors motivating students to pursue surgical specialties were prestige, high income expectation and dynamic nature of surgical fields, while deterrents were largely structural, including poor work-life balance and gender inequality.

Interest in surgical fields appears to be shaped by a balance between professional rewards and systemic deterrents. Addressing modifiable training- and system-level barriers may be critical to sustaining future interest in surgical careers.