Motivation for choosing the medical profession and a medical school in university students: survey results
Objective. To investigate the motives for choosing the medical profession and university as a location for medical studies in university students. Materials and methods. 1-, 3- and 6-year students of a medical university answered two open-ended questions: «Why and how did you choose the medical profession?» and «What made you choose this university?». The motives for choosing the profession and university were determined by content analysis of 10% of arbitrarily selected questionnaire. Content analysis presupposed singling out textual units (words and word combinations) that were considered manifest (conveyed the exact meaning) or latent (close in meaning) motive indicators. Motive indicators for choosing the profession (n = 10) and university (n = 12) were accepted by consensus and then used to determine motives in the remaining questionnaires. Results. The survey conducted among 316 students (84% - females) showed that the main motives for choosing the profession of a physician were «To help, safe lives, alleviate sufferings, do good» (n = 107, 34%), «My childhood dream was to become a doctor» (n = 87, 28%), «Interesting work, interest to the body structure and principles of its functioning» (n = 77, 24%). The main motives for choosing the university: «Prestige and reputation of the university» (n = 122, 39%), «University ranking status, quality of education, professionalism of the teaching staff» (n = 115, 36%). As has been shown, the understanding of the motives for choosing the profession and university depends on the year of study and a student's already having a lower-level medical education. Conclusion. The most common motives for choosing the medical profession: desire to be helpful, alleviate sufferings, childhood dream, interesting work. The choice of the university was determined by such motives as its prestige, reputation, ranking status, expected quality of education.