|
- 2018
Future Postgraduate Choices of First and Final Year Clinical Students in GhanaKeywords: Clinical Students, Postgraduate, Training, Subspecialties Abstract: Since the establishment of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2003, revived interest in postgraduate medical education has led to an increase in specialists in medicine, surgery and related disciplines. While this ongoing process is laudable, the number and variety of specialists are not yet commiserate with the health needs of the population. Semi-structured questionnaires (340) were administered to consenting first and final year clinical students of the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana during the final semester of the 2014 academic session. The questionnaire was based on anecdotes and focused group discussions on the issue of career choices and consisted of sections inquiring about the demographics, general career intentions and postgraduate aspirations of the respondents. Three hundred and fifteen (92%) out of 340 responders completed the questionnaires adequately; with 197 and 118 first and final year students respectively in M: F ratio of 1.23:1. All our responders were aged 20-25 years. Majority desired postgraduate specialization (86.7%); and Surgery (43.5%) and Obstetrics & Gynaecology (5.38%) were the most and least favoured specialties respectively. About 74% of our responders were influenced by personal interests (p=.01) irrespective of gender or year of study. Surgery is the most preferred postgraduate specialization in our study and most of the students were influenced by personal interest
|