Factors considered by junior residents in selecting anesthesia as a career choice and stress levels amongst the anesthesia postgraduate students: A questionnaire-based study

Anaesthesiology today is a vast speciality in medical science. In a healthcare setting, the expectations of teachers, parents, and patients augment the stress experienced by postgraduate trainees and registrars due to their hard workload, long duty hours, night shift, limited vacation time, insufficient sleep and food, and study. The study aims to assess factors influencing the selection of anaesthesia as a speciality choice and to assess stress levels while working as a postgraduate in anaesthesia. A questionnaire-based study was done among 265 junior anaesthesia residents for 2 months. A semi-structured was used to collect the data. Data were statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 20. Of 265 participants, most participants lie in the age group of 26-35 years (82.3%) with a mean age of 28±4 years and the least in >35 years (5.3%). Most of the participants in the current study are females (54.3%), and the rest are males (45.7%). 177 (81.2%) were MD postgraduates with stress and DNB postgraduates (80.9%). However, there was no significant association between the post-graduation degree and perceived stress. Most women students reported statistically significant stress. Anaesthesiologists need to emphasize the positive aspects and scope of the speciality outside the operating room, like trauma, critical care and pain management.