For the Sunday series, here is another popular article from our archives.One of the biggest decisions any doctor makes in his/her career is that of selecting a speciality. Numerous factors are known to have an influence on specialty selection, including initial career interest, perceptions about work-life balance, gender, the perceived status that a speciality offers etc.

M3 India conducted an online survey with Indian doctors to find the most "Desirable specialties of Medicine” in India.

A total of 471 doctors responded to this online survey. The respondents were divided into four categories viz Medicine Generalists*¹, Medicine Spcialists*², Surgeons*³ and others*⁴.

How satisfied are Indian doctors with their speciality?

At the graduate level, as medical students, doctors pick their choice of speciality with certain expectations. On that background, we asked the respondents how satisfied they were with their choice and the current speciality they were handling.

 

This survey revealed an overall trend of satisfaction.

• On an average, 50% of the respondents, across the categories were satisfied with the speciality they had chosen and were now handling it professionally.
• Within the group, medicine specialists had the highest % of doctors who were very satisfied with their choice. (64%).

---

Factors influencing a doctor’s decision while choosing a speciality for pursuing a career can be many and varied. This survey revealed that regardless of the speciality of the respondents, all the doctors placed a high emphasis on “personal interest” while choosing their speciality.

The further analysis put forth some interesting facts;

• While general practitioners (Medicine Generalists) placed more emphasis on personal interest (76%), medicine specialists tend to put more emphasis on research opportunities (31%) when they choose a speciality to pursue as a career.
• The surgeons, along with personal interest and prospects for a balanced lifestyle, also gave more weightage to the prospect of high earnings (29%) and status among other Doctors (30%).

 

Personal Interest or the prospect of earnings- what determines the choice of speciality?

After professionally practicing a speciality for a few years, do doctors have a different opinion? Yes, the survey statistics revealed that the doctor's perception about the spcialites changed after they started working as professionals.

The doctors were asked to revisit their decision of choosing a specality after taking up professional practice, and now pick the preferred criteria for zeroing in on a speciality, the results were as follows;

• Though personal interest remained the top criteria across the specialities, another criteria that now made an appearance was - work-life balance.
• Prospect of earning also, now, showed up as the 3rd most important criteria chosen by the respondents if given a choice to revisit the decision.

 

Interestingly, nearly twice the number of doctors showed a shift in consideration of criteria for choosing a specality after starting practice, that is, if they were given a choice to revisit.

Work-life balance-

• Medicine Generalists (61% vs 35%),
• Medicne Specialists(62% vs 38% ), and,
• Surgeons (64% vs 32%).

Prospect of earnings-

• Medicine Generalists (42% vs 22%),
• Medicine Specialists (53% vs 22%), and,
• Surgeons (49% vs 29%) now chose this as the 3rd most important criteria to choose the speiciality if given a choice to revisit the decision.

While this report throws light on how doctors tend to choose their speciality as graduates and how their choices of criteria change as they begin practice.

To read the other articles in the series, click 

What is the most coveted speciality among Indian doctors today?

Is gender still a factor for choosing medical speciality among Indian doctors?

---

*1: Medicine Generalists - General Medicine, Family Medicine, Infectious Disease, Diabetology, Pediatrics & Neonatology, Public health,

*2: Medicine Specialists - Allergy and Immunology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, ENT, Gastroenterology, Haematology, Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology - Medicine, Oncology - Radiation, Psychiatory/Psycology, Pulmonology, Rheumatology

*3: Surgeons - Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Critical care medicine, Emergency Medicine, Gastrointestinal – Surgery, General Surgery, Infertility Specialist, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Oncology - Surgical, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Pediatric Surgery, Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery

*4: Others - Forensic Medicine, Medical Genetics, Nuclear Medicine, Pathology, Radiology, Anatomy & Physiology, Biochemistry, Dentistry, Geriatrics, Microbiology, Palliative care, Pharmacology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine, Others, Non-allopathy (Alternative medicine)

The total number of respondents from the Medicine Generalists category was 160, that from Medicine Specialists category was 146, that from Surgeon category was 99, that from the Others category was 66.

---

Disclaimer

We have presented the data and facts as they are without generalising the results as a reflection of the views of the entire Indian doctor population. The demographic profile of the survey participants [shown above] may differ from the population of all Indian Doctors. Also, limiting the sample to the Internet channel only may introduce bias in the results. We also urge that the findings should not be interpreted as implying cause and effect.

This article was originally published on 06.10.18