Students’ views regarding selecting medicine as a profession

Objective: to assess students' perceptions regarding merits and demerits of selecting medicine as a profession. method: a cross sectional survey based on convenience sampling was done, where 300 students of both sexes were included, 150 from a medical profession and 150 from a non-medical profession. they were asked to fill a structured, pretested questionnaire, and the results were analyzed by spss 16.0. results: all medical students mentioned that they selected the medical profession because of personal interest. in addition to this 95% students believed this profession offers services to humanity. however, 87% students felt that their family had an influence in their career selection. interestingly gender consideration, financial reward and overseas consideration ranked low in order. there was a statistically significant difference between the preclinical and clinical groups in their decision of reselecting medicine, if they were given a second chance (p=0.001). of those who did not opt for a medical career, 78% students mentioned that medical training is difficult and prolonged, 75% students felt that there is too much competition while 62% students expressed that doctors have excessive working hours. conclusion: our study concluded that reasons for joining medical profession are primarily based on personal interest, respect and honor, family influence and service to humanity. financial gain is not a major consideration of many students in choosing medicine as a profession, however, long working hours and prolonged training discourages many students.