Pre-clinical medical students’ perception of surgical professions and balance with personal life – a single-centre exploratory analysis

Background Surgical professions deal with serious challenges to inspire students to pursue a surgical career and counteract demographic change. Students’ interest in sub-specialization is influenced by socio-economic factors including work-life balance, flexible working hours and appreciation. However, robust data about the current perception of surgical professions in the early stage of medical education is lacking so far. Methods We performed a voluntary online survey among students who participated in an elective neurosurgical course during their preclinical stage of medical studies. The investigator-developed survey addressed perception of unspecified surgical professions, including personal requirements, profession impact on health and lifestyle and the topic of gender disparities and family planning and was conducted before the students entered their elective course. We also assessed viewpoints on support programs facilitating compatibility of surgical training and family life. Results A total of 109 students participated in the voluntary survey (66.1% female, 33.0% male, 0.9% not specified). Overall, 56.0% of respondents reported prior experience with surgical professions and 33.9% planned to pursue a surgical career. Most respondents (68.8%) rated surgical professions as more physically demanding than other specialties, and about half (49.5%) considered them more harmful to physicians’ health. In contrast, only 26.6% rated the mental burden as higher in surgical than in other specialties. In the exploratory gender comparison, female participants more often agreed that male residents have better career chances in surgery, whereas male participants more often responded neutrally to this statement. Overall, 89.0% of participants expressed interest in unspecified support programs to improve the compatibility of professional and personal life, and 65.1% would be willing to accept a one-year extension of their surgical residency. Conclusions In summary, pre-clinical medical students of a preselected cohort tend to rate surgical disciplines as demanding, competitive and difficult to balance with private life. Most participants expressed interest in support programs for combining surgical training and family life which needs further evaluation in future studies.