What Does a Good Lifestyle Mean to You? Perspectives of 4th-Year U.S. Medical Students With Military Service Obligations in 2009

Kent J. Dezee, Mark D. Corriere, Stacy M. Chronister, Steven J. Durning, Brian Hemann, William Kelly, Janice L. Hanson, Paul A. Hemmer, Douglas Maurer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: A specialties' lifestyle is known to be important for specialty selection, but how medical students define this concept is unknown. Purpose: The aim of this article is to determine how 4th-year medical students perceive lifestyle of specialties. Methods: All 4th-year U.S. medical students graduating in 2009 with a military service obligation were invited to participate in an electronic survey. Responses to an open-ended question, "When someone says 'That specialty has a good lifestyle,' what does that mean to you?" were classified into themes by a consensus of the authors and then compared to the students' selected specialty. Results: Response rate for the questionnaire was 46% (369 of 797). Four themes describing lifestyle emerged: "schedule control" (67% of students), "off time" (53%), "financial aspects" (48%), and "work life" (26%). Conclusions: Medical students' definition of a "good lifestyle" includes four themes, which should be used in future research of the lifestyle factor of specialty selection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)292-297
Number of pages6
JournalTeaching and Learning in Medicine
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2012
Externally publishedYes

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