Background: The basis for preference and choice of specialty is a complicated mixture of individual interests and job opportunities. We wanted to investigate the possible explanations for such preferences and choices.
Material and method: Two groups of Norwegian doctors, 421 who entered medical school in 1993 and 631 who completed medical school in 1993 and 1994, received four questionnaires between 1993 and 2003 which included questions on preference or choice of specialty and possible motives for this.
Results: Individual preferences change extensively over time, but there is also a remarkably stabile distribution between the specialist categories. A specialty's prestige was emphasized less after medical school and the importance of having an optimal combination of an interesting job and a good private life increased This was also the case after controlling for the female respondents. Those who chose surgery or internal medicine were more motivated by medical challenges and career possibilities, while those who chose psychiatry or general medicine were more motivated by conditions such as variety and time for own family.
Interpretation: The motives behind choice of specialty are complicated and difficult to interpret, but seem to be a combination of ambitions and prestige on one hand, and lifestyle and family on the other. Recruitment into low status specialties may be achieved by increasing the possibilities for doctors to lead more normal family and social lives.