Abstract
Background: With increasing estrangement of young doctors from country’s health system, there is an urgent need to understand the preferences of medical students towards their career. The objective of the study was to examine trends of choosing a career in primary care, institution of training and place of work.
Material & Methods: In this descriptive study, first year medical students (2012-13) at CMH Lahore Medical College were invited to respond to a career choice questionnaire. Questions were asked about career choices and influencing factors.
Results: The response rate was 88% (256/290). Only 7.8% of respondents wanted to be primary care practitioner while 85.5% aspire to become subspeciality consultant. For postgraduate training, 72.3% would prefer a foreign country; but after acquiring postgraduate training, 73% would like to serve the country. Working in a rural area was preferred by only 16.4% over work in city (83.6%).
Conclusion: Entrant medical students had negative perceptions of primary health care, general practice and rural service. This has implications for deteriorating healthcare delivery for the majority of population. A balanced community-based curriculum may inculcate positive attitudes towards primary healthcare system of the country.
Sohail Attaur-Rasool, Shahid Hasan, Azizullah Bhatti. (2015) EARLY CAREER INTENTIONS OF NEWLY INDUCTED MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN PAKISTAN, Gomal Journal of Medical Sciences , Volume 13, Issue 4.
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