Search

Background: Medical students are the future health workers, and the specialty choice greatly affects the future distribution of health workers in the locality. This study was aimed to investigate the situation on specialty choice among senior students at a medical university at Ho Chi Minh City. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at a public university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from August 2018 to January 2019 based on face-to-face interview. Senior medical students who intended to take a postgraduated program was enrolled. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 23.0. Chi-square test was used for comparison and p<0.05 was considered to be significantly different. Results: Conferences and lecturers were the main source of reference for information finding. Lecturers and influencers were inspired most to the students. Among nine specialties, cardiology was the most preferred one (17.6%), following by general surgery and internal medicine (17.1%). Basic science was the least preferred specialty (1.2%). Conclusion: Specialty choosing is very important for senior-year medical students. Cardiology, general surgery and internal medicine were the most three favored specialties Lecturers were most influenced to their choice, including providing information and motivating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]