Characteristics of role models who influenced medical residents to choose surgery as a specialty: exploratory study
São Paulo med. j
;
135(6): 529-534, Nov.-Dec. 2017. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: biblio-904119
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE:
Choosing a medical specialty and making decisions concerning a career are difficult processes for medical students and newly graduated physicians.This exploratory study aimed to investigate the influence of role models on the choice of surgery as a career, and to determine the most influential model characteristics. DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Qualitative analysis on responses to a self-administered questionnaire, in different teaching-learning settings.METHODS:
Residents from all years of various surgical subspecialties in a university hospital were included in a survey about the factors that determined their choice of surgery. The questions included items on whether a role model had influenced them in choosing surgery, and the personal or professional characteristics of the models that had been most influential. The responses were subjected to qualitative content analysis.RESULTS:
Sixty-four out of 96 medical residents participated. Fifty-three residents (82.8%) acknowledged the influence of role models. Sixteen model characteristics were indicated as important, with 136 mentions. Characteristics classified as technical skills (55%), such as"medical knowledge"and "manual dexterity" predominated over humanistic characteristics (35%), such as "patient-physician relationships" and "ethical behavior". However, this difference was not statistically significant (Fisher test, P = 0.11).There were no age differences regarding the proportions mentioning "technical" and "non-technical" attributes, but female residents mentioned significantly more technical skills than their male colleagues did.CONCLUSIONS:
The influence of role models seems to be an important factor determining the choice of surgery as a career. The influential characteristics of the models include not only technical but also humanistic qualities.
Full text:
Available
Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Main subject:
Specialties, Surgical
/
Students, Medical
/
Career Choice
/
Surgeons
/
Internship and Residency
Type of study:
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
São Paulo med. j
Journal subject:
Cirurgia Geral
/
Cincia
/
Ginecologia
/
Medicine
/
Medicina Interna
/
Obstetr¡cia
/
Pediatria
/
Sa£de Mental
/
Sa£de P£blica
Year:
2017
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)/BR
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS