Research attitudes, barriers, and prior experience: Experience from interns working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore research productivity and attitudes by Saudi interns.

Materials And Methods: Interns from two hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia were invited to participate in an online survey.

Results: Fifty-seven interns responded to the survey. An accurate response rate is not possible because the invitation email reliably reached only a half of all 400 interns. Fifteen interns (26.3%) presented their research findings at a conference, and seven (12.3%) had managed to publish their findings. The main attractions to research were improving prospects of a successful residency/fellowship match (71.7%) and desire to learn more about the research subject (17%).

Conclusion: Most interns in our sample expressed interest in being involved in research. The driving forces behind such eagerness, however, remain to be explicitly explored-although the majority of the sampled interns cited improved chances for a successful residency/fellowship match as the main reason.