Emigration-related attitudes of the final year medical students in Croatia: a cross-sectional study at the dawn of the EU accession.

Aim: To investigate the emigration-related attitudes of final year medical students in Croatia at the dawn of the EU accession in 2013.

Methods: All final-year medical students at four Croatian medical schools (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, and Osijek) were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey on emigration attitudes.

Results: Among 260 respondents (response rate 61%), 90 students (35%) reported readiness for permanent emigration, expecting better quality of life (N=22, 31%), better health care organization (N=17, 24%), more professional challenges (N=10, 14%), or simply to get a job (N=8, 11%), while the least common expectation were greater earnings (N=7, 10%).