Factors influencing career choice in anaesthesiology

Background: There is a shortage of anaesthesiologists in India. The factors that prompt medical students to opt for anaesthesiology as their career are not known; neither do we have any mechanism to know a student's stress-bearing ability before he/she opts for a stressful career like anaesthesiology. We conducted an anonymous, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey among 200 post-graduate anaesthesiology students to know various factors that they considered while opting for this speciality, and also evaluated their stress-bearing ability using Antonovsky's 13-point sense of coherence scale. Methods: Two-hundred anaesthesiology students were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the factors they considered important while opting for anaesthesiology, also enumerated in order of importance the three most important factors that led to opting this career. Students also answered the questions in Antonovsky's sense of coherence (SOC) scale. Results: Economic security was considered by maximum number of students (67.7%), while intellectual stimulation/challenge offered by anaesthesiology was rated first in order of importance. Influence of doctor-patient relationship was not considered by large number of students. The weak SOC score (55) (25th percentile) was not greatly different than the mean SOC score (60) in the survey. Conclusion: Increasing the exposure of students to anaesthesiology at undergraduate level and building public awareness about the speciality will prompt more students to opt for the speciality, while career counselling with regard to specific needs of a speciality and ability of a student will help in opting the speciality that best suits the student's personality.