Reports on Medical Science Findings from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Provide New Insights (Determining Factors Influencing Specialty Preferences of Iranian Medical Doctors: A Qualitative Study): Health and Medicine – Medical Science

2022 JUL 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on medical science. According to news reporting originating from Shiraz, Iran, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The medical specialty choice of physicians directly affects the healthcare system, community wellbeing, and their own professional life. It is therefore important to identify its underlying factors to predict such medical career choices and to draw up a comprehensive evidence-based public health policy and health human resources planning.”

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: “The present qualitative study aimed to identify these determinants of career choices through semi-structured interviews with medical doctors in the context of country-specific social and cultural characteristics. The present qualitative study was carried out in 2019-2020 at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (Shiraz, Iran). The target population was medical students, junior doctors, and medical residents. The purposive sampling method was used to recruit the participants and sampling continued until data saturation, i.e., no new information could be extracted. Data were collected through individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the conventional content analysis method. Inductive thematic analysis was used to interpret the data based on which a thematic map was developed illustrating the factors influencing medical specialty preferences in Iran. Data trustworthiness was assessed according to the criteria proposed by Guba and Lincoln. Analysis of the interview data resulted in three main themes and fourteen sub-themes. The main themes were ‘Personal determinants’, ‘Career-related factors’, and ‘Interpersonal influences’. The most important sub-themes were personal interests, income, and prestige.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The determinants influencing the specialty preferences of Iranian medical doctors are identified. Our findings will facilitate the development of a comprehensive evidence-based public health policy, health human resources planning, and appropriate medical education policy.”

For more information on this research see: Determining Factors Influencing Specialty Preferences of Iranian Medical Doctors: A Qualitative Study. Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences, 2022,47(4):350-359. (Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences - http://ijms.sums.ac.ir/index.php/ijms). The publisher for Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences is Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.30476/ijms.2021.89938.2071.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Yaser Sarikhani, Department of Health Care Management and Health Economics, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Additional authors for this research include Sulmaz Ghahramani, Mohsen Bayati, Farhad Lotfi, Peivand Bastani.

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