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Background: The stress associated with the physician's work is generally acknowledged and is related to well-being and life satisfaction. The presented study was designed to extract the role of coping strategies in identifying differentiated styles of success in a medical career during medical education., Methods: The participants were examined when they applied to medical school and each subsequent academic year. The final study took place four years after graduation. The baseline questionnaire measured coping strategies. The follow-up questionnaire consisted of measures of: quality of life, work stress and burnout, satisfaction with medicine as a career, and professional competency., Results: Based on coping strategies assessed during admission and preclinical years of medical study, some aspects of success in the participants' future medical career can be predicted. Students who take action and deal directly with a problem, neither accept resignation, nor reduce tension by expressing feelings would most probably resist future burnout. However, despite the fact that they obtain the highest quality of life or earn the highest income they would be, at the same time, the least satisfied with chosen career, as well as being more likely to be characterised by a low level of competence., Conclusions: Assessment of coping strategies at the beginning of medical education could be taken into consideration as an instrument to diagnose a specific trend in physicians' career development.

Background: Sense of coherence is related to well-being, stress and life satisfaction among medical students and physicians. The purpose of the study was to investigate relation between sense of coherence during medical education and styles of success in the medical career., Methods: The participants were first examined when they applied to medical school in 1999. Questionnaires were given to these students each academic year from 2000 to 2005. Also, 54 medical doctors who had participated in the first phase of the study completed a questionnaire in 2009, four years after graduation. The baseline questionnaire measured the sense of coherence. The follow-up questionnaire included measures of quality of life, work stress and burnout, satisfaction with medicine as a career, and professional competency., Results: Medical students with the highest sense of coherence later have the highest quality of life and income, and are the least overwhelmed by work stress, but they also show the least satisfaction with medicine as a career and a low level of professional competence., Conclusions: Antonovsky's SOC-29 questionnaire can be used to identify specific tendencies in the development of the medical career. Our results may be useful to medical school admissions officers and resident selection committees, in order to identify candidates at risk for failure.