Factors influencing student’s specialty choices in Lomé faculty of medicine (Togo)

BMC Medical Education

Bayaki Saka¹  Panawe Kassang¹  Aminou Dabouda¹  Palokinam Pitche¹  Julienne Noude Teclessou¹  Sefako Akakpo¹  Koussake Kombate¹ 

[1] Department of Dermatology, University Teaching Hospital of Lomé. Faculty of health sciences, university of Lome (Togo), Lomé, Togo;

关键词: Specialties;    Medical students;    Factors influencing;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-021-03063-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe choice of specialty in medicine is an important decision for the individual, but also for health system. This choice combined personals reasons, professional desires and needs of the health system. The number of specialists in the country depends of this choice. Very few studies have focused on factors influencing the choice of specialties among medical students in Africa. Also, in the absence of specialist needs planning in Togo. This study, aims to determine the factors influencing the choice of specialty among students at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Lomé (FSS-UL).MethodsThis was a descriptive cross-sectional study that took place from June 1 to June 30, 2019 with medical students of the doctoral cycle and doctors in specialization studies in the various Diploma of Special Study (DSS) available at the FSS-UL.Data collection was done at the surveyed’s training sites. Pre-established and pre-tested fact sheets were giving and explained to the students by data collection team. Data collection team return at the surveyed’s training sites 72 h after to collect pre-established fact sheets. Following variables study including: factors (individual; related to the medical curriculum); the advantages and attractiveness of the specialty that can influence students’ choice. Data analysis was carried out using Epi Info 6.0 software. The significance threshold was 5%.ResultsAt the time of the survey, the FSS-UL had 147 doctoral students and 211 specialty students. A total of 251 participants responded to the questionnaires. These included 140 doctoral students and 111 specialty students. The choice of specialties requiring night work such as gynecology, surgery was significantly associated with the male sex (p = 0.001). There was significant association between having financial support (p = 0.001), remuneration related to the specialty (p = 0.0001) and the decision to beginning specialty studies immediately completing general medical studies. Interest in lectures (p = 0.003), teacher support as a mentor in the specialty (p = 0.01) and easy accessibility to teachers (p = 0.008) were medical curriculum factors significantly associated with specialty choice. Facility to work in public and private sector was mentioned by 55.3% of respondents who chose gynecology (p = 0.03).Interest in lectures (p = 0.003), was significantly associated with choice of fundamental sciences; and work in international fields was significantly associated with the choice of pediatric and public health (p = 0.0001).ConclusionFactors influencing the choice of certain specialty were balance between family and professional life; financial support to studies, the remuneration opportunities related to the specialty, access to university career. Intervention on these factors will allow a balance between the numbers of doctors trained in the different specialties.

【 授权许可】

CC BY