Career Priorities of Female Doctors

Abstract Objective: The objective of the study is to identify the career choices of female medical students and residents, and the factors that influence their career choices. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Sindh Medical College, Karachi from 1st May to 30th May, 2014.Total 145 females were made the part of study, and most of them were final year medical students. A self-designed questionnaire was offered to them with their free will to participate in the study. It was filled by them during their free duty time. The questionnaire mainly focused on the career choices made by the female medical representatives and the factors that influence their career choices. The data was analyzed by SPSS version 21, a computer statistics software program. Results: Of the 145 questionnaires, n=99 were filled by final year medical students and n=46 by residents. Among them, 54.5% opt medical profession on their wish whereas 26.2% chose because of their families. Among all the participants, 50.3% were planning to study abroad, majority favoring USA (20%). The preferred career for these participants was General Medicine (35.9%) and Gynecology& Obstetrics (26.2%). Of the total, n=110 have planned to change their career because they were tired of extensive study (n=33) and some changed because it is physically a hard profession (n=30).