Specialty choices amongst graduating medical students in University of Calabar, Nigeria: Implications for anaesthesia practice

Background: Despite its strategic role in health care delivery, anaesthesia does not attract medical manpower in developing countries more so amongst medical trainees. This has resulted in an alarming lack of physician anaesthetists. This study aims to determine the rate of selection of anaesthesia as a specialty choice and factors that influence medical students when choosing specialties.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst final year medical students in University of Calabar. A semistructured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a total of 105 final year students who had undergone their posting in anaesthesia.Results: The mean age of respondents was 27± 4 years. Seventy-two (69%) were males. Ninety-six (91%) of the students indicated interest in specializing. Thirty-four (32%) preferred obstetrics and gynaecology, 20 (19%) wanted paediatrics and 13 (12%) preferred family medicine while 3 (3%) wanted anaesthesia. Factors which influenced choice of specialty amongst the graduating students included: personal interests 85 (81%), future job opportunities 66 (63%) and requirement of specialized skill 65 (62%). Forty-six respondents (44%) reported that their anaesthesia posting experience was interesting, 27 (28%) as very educative. The duration of the posting was rated very short by 25 (24%).Conclusion: With less than 5% of graduating medical students indicating interest in anaesthesia specialization, improvement of training facilities and provision of incentives to intending trainees are strongly recommended.Keywords: Specialty choices, anaesthesia, medical student