Investigating interest in orthopedic surgery within an entire medical faculty: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Discrepancies exist between the magnitude of musculoskeletal problems and the competency of physicians practicing musculoskeletal medicine, which likely stems from medical school-level educational deficiencies. Therefore, inadequate orthopedic surgery education during medical school may affect the number of students aspiring to practice orthopedic surgery. However, the motivating factors underlying medical students' selection of a career specialty are largely unknown. This study aims to use a survey to examine the motivations of medical students who consider orthopedic surgery as a potential career specialty.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was administered to medical students in our medical faculty. The results were stratified on the basis of gender, year, and experience as a patient; results were then compared between students who wished to practice orthopedic surgery and those who did not consider it a potential specialty.

Results: Of the 499 students who responded to the questionnaire, 47% considered orthopedic surgery as their career specialty. Being male and having experienced orthopedic surgery as a patient were significant factors influencing the aspiration to practice orthopedic surgery (p < 0.001). In addition, the motivation for choosing orthopedic surgery was academic interest for 55% of students. In the first and fifth years, more than half of the students preferred an orthopedic surgery specialty. The percentage of fifth-year students who were candidates for orthopedic surgery as their career specialty significantly exceeded that of students in other years (p = 0.03). However, the percentage of students considering orthopedic surgery decreased in the sixth year.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that orthopedic surgeons should provide a clearer, more informative job description to attract female medical students' attention and change their negative perception of orthopedic surgery. Furthermore, including education that incorporates experiences closer to clinical practice at the medical-school level is important for increasing the number of candidates for orthopedics.