gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Role models are known to influence the career choice of medical students. However, the importance of specific role models remains unclear. This study compared the relative importance of three types of role models for medical students’ career preferences in three representative disciplines.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey at the Medical University of Vienna asked students for their current first-choice medical speciality and for the medical specialty of three types of role models: (i) professional, e.g. teachers, both positive and negative, (ii) family, and (iii) institutional, e.g. mentors. We analysed the influence of these role models on career choice in internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry. All role models significantly predictive of career choice in the univariate analysis were entered into a multivariate binary logistic regression analysis.

Results: Of the 1344 participating students 316 opted for internal medicine, 280 for surgery and 55 for psychiatry. Positive professional role models had an equally strong influence on career choice in all disciplines. The strongest positive effect was exerted by negative professional role models in surgery. In psychiatry, negative professional role models and family role models had no significant effect but mentors were more important than in the other disciplines.

Discussion/conclusion: The influence of role models, both positive and negative, on career choice may differ according to medical discipline, but the positive influence of positive professional role models may exist across disciplines. Knowledge about the differing importance of specific role models may be especially important for disciplines facing recruitment difficulties, such as psychiatry.