Factors Influencing the Career Choices among Medical University students of King Saub bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia; A Cross-sectional Study Design

Aim: This study investigated the factors that influence career choice among second year dental, medical and nursing students at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Methodology: One hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed to 2nd year pre-professional medical, dental and nursing students (50 questionnaires per group). First part of questionnaire was regarding demographics and in the second part consisted of 23 factors that might influence the students' career choices which were divided into six dimensions namely social status, economy, profession, vocation/service, interest in science/education, and personal background. Results: We received 119 completed questionnaires (medical = 40, dental = 40 and nursing = 39) with the response rate of 79.3%. We found that the social status of being a doctor or a dentist motivated medical and dental students compared to being a nurse for nursing students and the difference was significant among three groups (P value: 0.01). Furthermore, dental students when compared to both medical and nursing students were more likely to be motivated by factors related to profession that were job security, flexible timings and many others. On the other hand, with regard to factors relating to personal background, medical students showed lower motivation in comparison with dental and nursing students. Nevertheless the difference in attitude related to personal background was significantly different among three groups (P value <0.01). Conclusions: Through this study we concluded that factors related to professional security, personal background influenced the career choices of pre-professional medical, dental and nursing students. However we cannot generalize the finding as it was done in one hospital of Riyadh. Nevertheless, this study was able to provide valuable information on the reasons for choosing a professional career among Saudi Arabian students. Further multicenter studies are needed to build upon the findings of the current study.