Factors Influencing the Postgraduate Training Choices of Medical Interns and Junior Medical Officers at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Guyana

Factors Influencing the Postgraduate Training Choices of Medical Interns and Junior Medical Officers at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Guyana

West Indian Medical Journal, February 2016

27617713

Y Hendricks, AO Amata

The aim of our study was to determine the specialty preferences and the reasons for those choices among medical interns and junior medical doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Guyana. A cross-sectional study of recent medical graduates at GPHC using anonymous self-administered questionnaires. Of the study population of 66, 60 filled questionnaires were returned (response rate of 91.5%). Females comprised 60% of respondents and 98% of respondents were interested in postgraduate medical education (PGME). Paediatrics was the most popular programme (25% of respondents) followed by internal medicine (21%) and the main reason among respondents for choice of training programme was personal interest (69%). Gender differences occurred in paediatrics and ophthalmology where females were predominant and in orthopaedics and anaesthesia where males were predominant. To ensure an adequate and balanced medical specialists workforce for the future, information on medical graduates perceptions and preferences of PGME and the factors influencing their choices is important to policy planners and medical educators and efforts must be made to correct any maldistributions noted.