The preference of radiology as a postgraduate medical specialty among final year medical students of Usmanudanfodiyo University, Sokoto

Abstract

Background: Recruitment into medical specialties outside the core clinical departments remains a stumbling block to advancing medical practice in Nigeria. We set out to determine the factors influencing choice of diagnostic radiology as a field of specialization by the final year medical students in Usmanu Danfodiyo University College of Health Sciences, Sokoto.

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was done. All the 2015/2016 session final year medical students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University were administered a structured questionnaire by the authors. SPSS version 20.0 was used for the result analysis. Univariate and bivariate analyses were done where appropriate to describe variables.

Results: A total of 62 out of 65 final year medical students responded. Fifty one (82.3%) had interest in specializing after school. However, only 4(6.5%) of the students had interest in radiology. Male sex was found to be a predictor for the choice of radiology.

Conclusion: Career guidance/re-orientation and clarification of general misconception about radiology is necessary to avoid shortage of trained radiologists in the near future.

Keywords: Career choice, Radiology, Medical students