ABSTRACT
Background and objective Saudi Arabia's rapid medical education expansion has posed unique challenges for its students, particularly concerning specialty selection. Having broad exposure to medical specialties is crucial for making informed decisions. This study explores how the size of students' hometowns influences their exposure to their preferred specialty, thereby affecting their choice. Methods Our cross-sectional study collected data from medical students in their 4th and 5th years, interns, and graduates across Saudi Arabia. An electronic survey gathered information about medical specialty choice, interest levels, students' self-ranking compared to their peers, and level of exposure to the chosen specialty. Overall exposure to specialties was quantified by tallying participants' experiences in preclinical observerships, didactic lectures, research projects, core and elective rotations, and attended conferences. We divided the students into three city sizes: primary urban centers, intermediate urban cities, and small townships and compared the outcomes between these three groups. Results Responses were obtained from 1,072 participants, with 424 (39.6%) from primary urban centers, 367 (34.2%) from intermediate urban cities, and 281 (26.2%) from small townships. Student hometown size was an independent predictor of specialty exposure, with students from smaller cities reporting lower exposure scores (OR = 0.73, (0.63-0.84), p<0.01). The study also identified gender disparities in exposure, with female students found to be correlated with a lower exposure score (OR = 0.72, (0.58-0.89), p<0.01). Conclusion City size is a significant determinant of specialty exposure for Saudi medical students. These findings highlight the need for initiatives that promote equal educational experiences, ensuring comprehensive specialty exposure to all students.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To assess the safety and outcome of pediatric ambulatory surgery by measuring the rate of complications and readmission and identifying common risk factors for complications and readmission. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children's Hospital (KASCH), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using the BESTCare 2.0 Health Information System (SKHIC, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). All cases admitted under the pediatric ambulatory surgery unit from June 2015 to May 2018 were included. We reviewed 462 medical charts and recorded the variables of age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, complications, and readmission within one month of the surgery. SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. Associations between exposure variables (e.g., age, duration of surgery) and the outcome variables (e.g., rate of readmission and complications) were measured using the Chi-square test for categorical variables, the T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for numerical and categorical variables, and logistic regression for multiple variables to control confounding variables. RESULTS: Approximately, 3.5% of the pediatric ambulatory surgery cases required readmission, and 10.6% of the patients had complications with zero mortality. All the variables had no significant association either with the readmission or complications (p > 0.05), except for the duration of surgery in minutes which was associated with complications (OR 1.006, 95% CI, 1.000-1.012, P = 0.035). CONCLUSION: Among pediatric ambulatory surgery cases, the mortality rate is 0%, with low complications and readmission rates. Also, the longer the surgery, the higher the risk of complications.
