gms | German Medical Science

Background/Purpose: In the near future a high number of medical specialists in Germany will retire. Compared with this, the growing ageing population will require more medical specialists. Perhaps sufficient surgical care will be offered only inadequately across the country. This study aims to investigate the temporal development of the specialty selection of medical students in Jena. The main focus is on the factors for selecting surgery.

Methods: We designed an online questionnaire for all students from Jena Medical School which consisted of 2 parts. The first part explored the students’ preferred postgraduate specialty from a list of 32 possibilities, as well as their reasons for their decision. Sociodemographic data were collected in the second part of the survey which was conducted during summer of the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Results: The response rate ranged from 12% to 20% for the 3 surveys. Half of the participants were interested in internal medicine, 20% in surgical fields, 10% in neuroscience and diagnostics. About 20% of the participants were undecided. During the 3 years, surgery shows an increase.

Reasons for the selection of a surgical specialty were the prestige of surgery, the career opportunities and the expected income. Reasons against the selection of a surgical specialty were the heavy workload, a poor reconciliation of family and job duties and the duration of the surgical residency. Male students were more career orientated whereas the more numerous female students attached importance to their prospective work-life-balance.

Conclusions: Over the 3 years the students` interest in surgical fields increased. This could help to ensure the surgical care for the ageing population. Nevertheless, the requirements of young (female) surgeons should be kept in mind to meet their request for work life balance.