Analysis of Influencing Factors for Choosing Dermatology as a Future Career: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Medical Students at King Abdulaziz University.

Background: Determining the influencing factors of choice of medical specialty is key to a balanced distribution of physicians across specialties. Dermatology, the specialty concerned with treating skin disorders, is known for being among the most wanted; however, studies identifying the factors that attract students to this specialty are lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the influencing factors of the choice of dermatology as a career in clinical-year medical students.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with a sample of clinical-year medical students from King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between 2020 and 2021. We collected data using an online self-administered questionnaire; we replicated a questionnaire present in prior research. We compared categorical data using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.  Results: In total, there were 252 participants, with 30 (11.9%) choosing dermatology as a specialty. Over half showed an average grade of more than 4.5 (66.7%), and 83.3% were female. The significant influencing factors of students' choice of dermatology as a career were: the likelihood of dermatologists influencing patients' lives (p=0.000), opportunities to conduct research in dermatology (P=0.000), how Dermatology allows people to have a satisfying family life (P=0.001), and opportunities for part-time work in dermatology (p=0.000).

Conclusion: Many factors influenced the choice of a future medical specialty in our sample. Focusing on these factors while guiding students to choose their specialty may enable a promising next generation of physicians.