New Delhi: Medicine is considered one of the most noblest professions in the country. Indian Parents take pride in informing others that their child is a doctor and,for children themselves, the tag of a doctor is associated with a greater degree of prestige as well as upliftment in the society. Getting into MBBS is also not easy. Only a handful of students, those who can be considered the brightest minds are rewarded for their handwork and dedication after they clear the entrance exams and join the course.
Many students however, after joining the medical profession find the journey contrary to what they had expected. Depression rates among medical students are at an all time high, and so are the rates of suicide amoung medicos.
While medical colleges across the country are trying to find the ways to boost the morale of their medicos, it is important to first find out the basic reasons as to why young medicos go such a massive change of heart.
This very issue was addressed by study published in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, earlier this year, where researchers form the Department of Community Medicine, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences tried to find out reasons for opting medical profession and regret after joining MBBS course among first year students of a medical college in Telangana
The doctors performed cross-sectional study among 150 first year medical students with a pre-tested, semi structured questionnaire. The mean age of the MBBS students was 17.94 and majority were females (72%).
The authors found that Self-interest was the major reason for opting MBBS
- The most common motivational factors to take up medical profession were to earn respect in the society (83.87%)
- The next biggest factor behind the decision to join MBBS was to make family members happy and proud (77.41%).
- Money was the main motivation for 35.4% of the subjects
Having said that the study also revealed that almost 40% of the students were having regret feeling for choosing medical profession. Around 12 percent of the students having regrets also felt like quitting MBBS if given a chance. The study called for high attention to be paid to such students. The proportion of students having regrets for taking medical profession was significantly higher among males.
The study further highlighted that majority of the students did not pay attention in the class because of tiredness after continuous classes (58%) followed by poor teaching method by faculty (46.66%).
The study can accessed by clicking on the following link:-
Jothula, K., Ganapa, P., D., S., Naidu, N., & P., A. (2018). Study to find out reasons for opting medical profession and regret after joining MBBS course among first year students of a medical college in Telangana.
International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 5(4), 1392-1396. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20180983
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