FACTORS INFLUENCING CHOICE OF SPECIALTY AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN ABIA STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, ABA
Abstract
The importance of considering a student's career desire in creating educational programs and
hiring human resources for healthcare delivery has grown in recent years as it may have an
impact on academic achievement and learning. However, not many studies have been conducted
in the South East of Nigeria's medical colleges. As a result, we conducted this research to learn
more about the job preferences of medical students at Abia State University and to identify the
factors that affect such decisions.
To determine the most preferred medical specialties as well as the factors influencing the choice
of medical specialty among medical students at Abia State University, Uturu, a cross-sectional
questionnaire-based survey was carried out among fourth, fifth- and sixth-year medical students
at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba during the 2021/2022 academic year. A total
of 336 students answered the questionnaire which covered the demographic characteristics and
level of knowledge on various specialties, knowledge score of choice of specialties among
students, specialty career preferences of students and their willingness to practice, sex
disaggregation and preferred choice of specialty.
In our study, likeness of the area of specialty (36.3%) was the most preferred influential factor
affecting specialty choice, while peer influence (3.8 %) was the least influential factor.
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