Factors Impacting Ophthalmology Interest and Perception Among U.S. Medical Students.
Medical students choosing ophthalmology showed higher odds of valuing work-life balance
Factors Impacting Ophthalmology Interest and Perception Among U.S. Medical Students.
In order to better understand medical students' decision-making to pursue ophthalmology, and inform efforts to recruit more diverse and inspired ophthalmologists, we aim to characterize values and experiences of medical students pursuing ophthalmology.
Retrospective cross-sectional study.
students choosing ophthalmology were more likely to value work-life balance
Among 134,723 matriculating students who completed the MSQ, those interested in ophthalmology (2425 students) were more likely to value high income (OR 1.46, p<0.001) and work-life balance (OR 1.44, p<0.001), and less likely to value social change (OR 0.76, p<0.001), leadership (OR 0.94, p=0.011), or creativity (OR 0.94, p=0.025).
Students pursuing ophthalmology rated their clerkships in neurology (OR 1.22 [1.16-1.29], p<0.001), internal medicine (OR 1.19 [1.12-1.28], p<0.001), surgery (OR 1.18 [1.12-1.25], p<0.001), psychiatry (OR 1.16 [1.09-1.23], p<0.001), and emergency medicine (OR 1.08 [1.01-1.16], p=0.02) more highly compared to other core clerkships.
Medical students pursuing ophthalmology valued lifestyle factors rather than leadership, creativity, or social change and were also more likely to perform research.
They were more likely to rely on non-mentorship resources for specialty information.
Efforts are needed to refine the perception of ophthalmology, increase focus on creativity and innovation, and improve the recruitment of diverse and inspired future ophthalmologists.