Medical Students’ Perceptions And Career Motivations In General Medicine: Challenges And Opportunities For Rural Healthcare Education
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Abstract
Many people call general medicine the same as primary care or family medicine because it is fundamental for supporting healthcare in older communities. How medical students think about general medicine and their studies can influence if they go on to practice as a general practitioner. It aimed to understand how students’ opinions and experiences are linked to their interest in medicine as a career. We asked medical students to complete a survey that gathered their opinions on general medicine, personal background details and their career goals and dreams. A total of 70.3% (490) out of all participants responded. Because there was a wide gap found between student interest and motivation, logistic regression analysis was carried out to discover the influencing factors. It was found that believing general medicine helps society and that there are not enough educators in this field encouraged people to consider becoming general practitioners. Motivation levels were lower in law students who felt they had limited opportunities to learn general medicine outside of required courses and sought those opportunities. Improving student access to medical education and providing flexible learning might encourage many to go into this specialty. Planning future studies with a longitudinal approach may help learn more about how students’ perceptions and attitudes lead them to pursue careers in general medicine.
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References
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