The evaluation of the attitudes and commitment of the 6th grade students of Trakya University Medical Faculty towards the medical profession

With this study, we aimed to evaluate the attitudes of Trakya University Faculty of Medicine 6th grade students towards the profession of medicine and their dedication to this profession. We aimed to reveal the factors affecting the attitudes and commitment of physician candidates. A face-to-face interview was applied to 196 6th year medical students who participated in our study, consisting of 72 questions prepared by us about professional attitudes, dedication and which we think may affect them. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, skewness and kurtosis values were used to test the normality of the distribution. Independent variables t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis were performed for normally distributed data. Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman correlation analysis was performed for the data that did not show normal distribution. After the dependent variables were categorized according to their mean and standard deviation, the relationship between the independent variables was evaluated by ordinal logistic regression analysis. A total of 196 intern physicians participated in our study and 51.5% of the participating physicians were female and 48.5% male. The mean age was calculated as 24.4±0.13. There was a physician in the nuclear family of 14.3% of the participants. 31.6% of the students had their mother's education level, 53.1%'s father's education level was university or higher, and family income was equivalent to 60.7% of them. Gender did not differ significantly for professional attitude and commitment. Professional attitudes and commitment levels were higher among those who voluntarily entered medical school, those whose profession is to save lives and be beneficial to humanity, those who have regular sleep, those who are satisfied with their faculty, and those who think that their expectations from the profession can be met. Participants with lower educational status of fathers had higher levels of professional commitment. It was observed that there was a positive correlation between professional attitude and professional dedication. Changing professional attitudes and commitments is difficult but not impossible. Evaluating the professional attitudes and commitment of physician candidates studying in medical faculties and determining the affecting factors before graduation will enable physician candidates to improve their attitudes and commitment to the profession of medicine.