PERCEPTION OF FIRST-YEAR VERSUS SIXTH-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN SERBIA ON STUDYING MEDICINE AND POSTGRADUATE CAREER.

Self-perceived stress during undergraduate medical training could influence forthcoming career choices. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and potential differences between 1 ^st and 6 ^th year students regarding aspects of medical training and career plans. As many as 570 students in 1 ^st and 400 in 6 ^th year of studies at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, were recruited on December 2-9, 2013. Data were acquired through a self-administered questionnaire. Students in both years rated "Helping other people" as the most important reason to study medicine. Freshmen rated statistically significantly higher 'good incomes' and 'social status' as reasons to study medicine (p=0.003 and p=0.037, respectively). The most desirable fields of specialization were surgery and internal medicine (36.4% and 18.7% for 1 ^st year, and 26.3% and 36.6% for 6 ^th year, respectively). Significantly more freshmen would prefer working abroad (χ ² =3.891, p=0.029). In terms of careers abroad, students in both years expressed the highest interest in working in western and northern Europe. Desires for specialty training among medical students follow the pattern of the most frequent disciplines in the Serbian physician population, with gender differences comparable to other populations. A certain percentage of students would likely emigrate.