Comparison of Factors Affecting Clinical Performance and Choice of Specialty Among Medical Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51253/pafmj.v75iSUPPL-6.9529Keywords:
Choice of specialties, medical students, Personality traitsAbstract
Objective: To determine the relationship between various personality traits affecting clinical performance and choice of specialty among medical students.
Study Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Al-Nafees Medical College, Islamabad Pakistan, from May 2022 to Jun 2022.
Methodology: The present study was conducted among 1st, 4th, and final year medical students during academic session 2022. The total duration of the study was 8 weeks and 287 in-campus students were selected with the help of a designed questionnaire. Data was statistically analyzed in SPSS v25.
Results: This study included 300 people, however only 287 answered (95.67%). The majority of the graduating students opt surgery as their future specialty i.e. 29.7%. Although the study indicated that performance declines over time as in 1st year, we had 85(88.5%) out of 96 respondents that scored above 80% while 4(4%) out of 97 in final year scored above 80%. Extraordinary students had greater agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion traits among them. Extraverted medical students sleep longer, whereas amiable and open-minded students sleep less. As the clinical year of clerkship advances, agreeableness trait grows while neurotic trait diminishes, especially among high-achieving students.
Conclusion: According to the findings of this research, some characteristics of personality are linked to the academic achievement of medical students. Personality traits and specialty choice can improve career counselling of medical students. This study recommends that personality traits, in addition to cognitive considerations, should be considered by medical educators when evaluating the potential academic and clinical success of their students.
Downloads
References
1. Al-Naim AF, Al-Rashed A, Aleem A, Khan A, Ali S, Bogam R et al. Personality traits and academic performance of medical students in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Med Sci 2016; 5(4).
2. Sobowale K, Ham SA, Curlin FA, Yoon JD. Personality traits are associated with academic achievement in medical school: a nationally representative study. Academic Psychiatry 2018; 42(3): 338-345.
3. Dunleavy DM, Kroopnick MH, Dowd KW, Searcy CA, Zhao X. The predictive validity of the MCAT exam in relation to academic performance through medical school: a national cohort study of 2001–2004 matriculants. Academic Medicine 2013; 88(5): 666-671.
4. Soto CJ, John OP, Gosling SD, Potter J. Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of personality and social psychology 2011; 100(2): 330.
5. Doherty EM, Nugent E. Personality factors and medical training: a review of the literature. Medical education 2011; 45(2): 132-140.
6. Ferguson E, Semper H, Yates J, Fitzgerald JE, Skatova A, James D et al. The ‘dark side’and ‘bright side’of personality: When too much conscientiousness and too little anxiety are detrimental with respect to the acquisition of medical knowledge and skill. PloS one 2014; 9(2): e88606.
7. Maron BA, Fein S, Maron BJ, Hillel AT, Baghdadi MME, Rodenhauser P, et al. Ability of prospective assessment of personality profiles to predict the practice specialty of medical students. Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings; 2007: Taylor & Francis.
8. De Raad B, Schouwenburg HC. Personality in learning and education: A review. European Journal of personality. 1996; 10(5): 303-336.
9. Babbott D, Baldwin DC, Killian CD, Weaver SOL. Trends in evolution of specialty choice: comparison of US medical school graduates in 1983 and 1987. Jama 1989; 261(16): 2367-2373.
10. Mehmood SI, Khan MA, Walsh KM, Borleffs JC. Personality types and specialist choices in medical students. Medical teacher 2013; 35(1): 63-68.
11. Vaidya NA, Sierles FS, Raida MD, Fakhoury FJ, Przybeck TR, Cloninger CR. Relationship between specialty choice and medical student temperament and character assessed with Cloninger Inventory. Teaching and learning in medicine 2004; 16(2): 150-156.
12. Lydon S, O'Connor P, McVeigh T, Offiah G, Byrne D. Medical speciality choice: does personality matter? 2015.
13. Harris D. Factors affecting college grades: a review of the literature, 1930-1937. Psychological Bulletin 1940; 37(3): 125.
14. Margrain SA. Student characteristics and academic performance in higher education: A review. Research in Higher Education 1978; 8(2): 111-123.
15. Ibrahim NS, Yusof C, Razak N, Norshahidi ND. A meta-analysis of the relationship between big five personality traits and students’ academic achievement. ICSSR-e-Journal of Social Science Research 2014; 1(2): 15-22.
16. Lievens F, Ones DS, Dilchert S. Personality scale validities increase throughout medical school. Journal of applied psychology 2009; 94(6): 1514.
17. Ferguson E, James D, Madeley L. Factors associated with success in medical school: systematic review of the literature. Bmj. 2002; 324(7343): 952-957.
18. Tyssen R, Dolatowski FC, Røvik JO, Thorkildsen RF, Ekeberg Ø, Hem E, et al. Personality traits and types predict medical school stress: a six‐year longitudinal and nationwide study. Medical education 2007; 41(8): 781-787.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Hamna Khaliq, Ramsha Syed, Hania Syed, Daniyal Ahmed, Danish Ahmed, Munazza Asad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
