Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL EDUCATION
Volume 2, Issue -, Pages 140-146Publisher
INT JOURNAL MEDICAL EDUCATION-IJML
DOI: 10.5116/ijme.4ec5.92b8
Keywords
Medical students; gender; future expectations; physician's role; work-life balance
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Objectives: To investigate future life expectations among male and female medical students in their first and final year. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted at a Swedish medical school. Out of 600 invited students, 507 985%) answered an open-ended question about their future life, 298 959%) first-year students and 209 941%) last-year students. Women constituted 60% of the respondents. A mixed model design was applied; qualitative content analysis was utilized to create statistically comparable themes and categories. Results: Students' written answers were coded, categorized and clustered into four themes: Work, Family, Leisure and Quality of personal life. Almost all students included aspects of work in their answers. Female students were more detailed than male ones in their family concerns. Almost a third of all students reflected on a future work-life balance, but considerations regarding quality of personal life and leisure were more common among last-year students. Conclusions: Today's medical students expect more of life than work, especially those standing on the doorstep of working life. They intend to balance work not only with a family but also with leisure activities. Our results reflect work attitudes that challenge the health care system for more adaptive working conditions. We suggest that discussions about work-life balance should be included in medical curricula.
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