Factors that influence choosing emergency medicine as a career among Akdeniz ,University Medical School students

The aim of this study is to determine the factors that influence choosing emergency medicine specialty as a career among the students of Akdeniz University Medical School. In the 2018-2019 academic year, a total of 2277 students enrolled in the school were identified as the study population. The questionnaire was applied face to face with printed questionnaire forms. Demographic characteristics and sociocultural and economic status of the participants were asked. The students were asked about their preferences of medical specialties, including Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Basic Medical Sciences, Internal Medical Sciences and Surgical Medical Sciences. The variables that may affect the choice of medical specialty and 38 survey items were investigated. A total of 1635 (71.8%) students were given questionnaires and 18 questionnaires were excluded since not completed. It was learned that 92 of the students did not have a career choice. Factors affecting preferences were evaluated in 1525 participants. Fifty-one percent of the participants were men and 73.7% of them wanted to work abroad in a period of their lives. Almost 85% of students stated that health policies in Turkey were effective on career choices and 72% of students stated that violence to the healthcare providers affect their career choices. Factors influencing the choice of emergency medicine as a career were determines as gender, personal income, presence of a physician as first-degree relative, having an clerkship in the fifth and sixth years, willingness to establish short-term relationships with patients, willingness to intervene to see the results and possibility of a low score from the medical specialty examination (p <0.05). Prestige concern, role model follow-up, violence to the healthcare providers, weekend and nighttime shifts, and high mortality rates of the patients were found to be the factors that prevented the participants from emergency medicine specialty. 50 As a result, students' clerkship in the fifth and sixth years has a positive effect on choosing the emergency medicine specialty. Professional working conditions and the varied scope of practice affect the choice of medical specialty. Studies should be carried out to address the students' prestige concern about emergency medicine specialty. Keywords: Emergency Medicine, Medical Students, Career Choice, Medical Specialties