Seeking greener pastures: attitudes towards brain drain among turkish medical students

Medical brain drain is a critical issue for healthcare systems worldwide. This study investigated attitudes toward brain drain and influencing factors among medical students at Pamukkale University. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,129 students (80.8% response rate) during the 2021-2022 academic year. Data, including sociodemographics, views on studying/working abroad, and the 16-item Brain Drain Attitude Scale (BDAS), were collected via a structured online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, the Mann‒Whitney U test, the Kruskal‒Wallis test, and multiple linear regression were used for analysis. Over half (52.9%) of the students desired to work abroad, motivated by better working conditions (73.7%), higher salaries (57.8%), and social living conditions (66.8%). The BDAS score (mean = 61.26) indicated a moderate tendency toward brain drain. Key factors associated with higher brain drain attitude scores included financial constraints (B = 0.389, p = 0.001), independent living (B = 0.296, p