Fatores determinantes para a escolha da carreira cirúrgica por estudantes de medicina no Brasil

Abstract

Objectives: assess the prevalence of choice for the area of surgery among Brazilian medical students and investigate whether this prevalence increases or decreases during graduation and determine which factors are related to it. Methods: transversal study. Conducted with brazilian medical students, from May to December 2022. Questionnaires were self-administered via Google Forms, resulting in a sample of 224 participants. Results: the majority of the sample was composed of women (56.3%), between 18 and 24 years old (69.2%), white (69.6%), academics from Public Universities (79.9%). With regard to the participants, 29,01% intended to continue in the surgical area before entering higher education. Over the semesters, this value rose to 53.6%. When we compared the change in choice with the other variables, the factors that were significantly positive were: interaction with specialist professionals (p=0,01) and the expected financial return of each area (p<0,01). Gender, age group, ethnicity, being an academic at public or private universities, participation in internships, academic leagues and monitoring did not show statistical significance. Conclusion: Brazilian medical students are mostly women, between 18 and 24 years old, white. The prevalence of choice for the surgical area was 29.02% before entering the university. Over the semesters, this figure increased to 53.6%. The factors that are related to the change in the claim to specialization, considering changes both from the clinic to the surgery and from the surgery to the clinic areas, the interaction with specialist professionals and the expected financial return of each area were relevant (p=0,01 and p<0,01, respectively).