Producing financially literate medical graduates - A national need for a brighter Pakistan

Objective: to compare the awareness of financial wellness between male and female medical students. methods: the cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from february to december 2011 and comprised first year medical students belonging to different medical colleges of karachi. students from both genders,aged 19-24 years,belonging to all ethnic groups willing to participate were included. a close-ended questionnaire evaluated aspects of financial wellness,using four-point likert's scale: never,sometimes,mostly,and always from 0 to 4. besides,factor analysis was performed to investigate common financial wellness among the participants. results: of the total 800 students approached,complete responses were received from 736(92%); 210(28.5%) boys and 526(71.5%) girls. the mean financial wellness score of boys was 8.60±3.04 and that of the girls was 7.61 ±3.12 (p<0.0005). greater number of boys 93(44%) set both short- and long-term financial goals compared to 180(36%) girls (p=0.03). besides,218(42%) girls confined themselves to the budget compared to 81(39%) boys (p>0.05). more boys 71(34%) were spendthrift (p<0.0001) and 57(27%) preferred to keep their savings in bank accounts compared to the girls (p<0.0001). overall,boys were better in financial security wellness compared to the girls (p=0.001). conclusion: male medical students exhibited awareness of financial wellness better than girls. © 2015,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.