Study aim: In view of the crisis anticipated in French surgery, this study sought to analyze the choices of specialties of interns who passed the most recent national ranking exam (NRE), as well as the plans for specialization of medical students and to determine the factors influencing these choices.
Subjects and methods: Data about the specialty choices of students classified in the 2008 NRE were analyzed. In addition, at the beginning of the 2008 to 2009 academic year, French medical students were asked to complete a questionnaire that asked about their year of medical school, their sex, their professional plans, and the reasons for the choice.
Results: Analysis of the choices of the 5102 students who passed the NRE showed that medical (p<0.001) and anesthesia-resuscitation (p=0.04) specialties were more highly sought than surgical specialties. Surgery was chosen by 14 to 19% of the students among the first 100, 500, and 2500 students. The mean NRE ranking for future gastrointestinal surgeons was 1390, placing this specialty sixth. In all, 929 students (638 women, 69%) completed the questionnaire: 353 (38%) wanted to specialize in a medical field and 191 (21%) in a surgical field. This distribution was influenced by sex: 41.3% of the men and 22.9% of women planned to become surgeons (p<0.0001). Of the students planning to enter surgical fields, 54 wanted to become gastrointestinal surgeons (5.8% overall). The principal reasons for not choosing surgery were lack of interest (n=331, 73%) and too much work (n=109, 24%).
Conclusion: This study confirmed that there is currently a lack of interest in gastrointestinal surgery, based largely on negative presumptions, especially about its workload.