Factors Affecting the Choice of a Career in the Field of Surgery Among Medical Students of Karachi

Introduction Medical students choose to pursue their careers based on multiple internal and external factors. These factors, in turn, not only affect their personal future but the overall status of the health care system of their country. A recent decline in the interest of medical students towards the surgical career is being observed and, therefore, the factors influencing their choice need to be evaluated. We aimed to identify these factors in medical students of a public sector university of Karachi. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at Dow Medical College from April 2018 to May 2018. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to a sample of 250 students. Besides sociodemographic factors, the choice of career was identified and the factors that influenced it were assessed. Students' opinions were collected using a Likert scale. Data were entered and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23.0 (IBM, NY, USA). Frequencies were calculated for individual variables. The chi-square test was used to measure statistical differences between categorical variables and a p-value of