Abstract
Purpose :
Ophthalmology is one of the least diverse medical specialties in the U.S. We describe differences in gender and race between students who intend to pursue ophthalmology at matriculation and who actually pursue ophthalmology at graduation from U.S. medical schools.
Methods :
This is a cohort study of medical students who responded to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ), administered to first-year medical students from 2013-2021, and the Graduation Questionnaire (GQ), given to expected graduates between 2017-2022. We collected self-reported age, sex, race, and specialty preference from matched questionnaires to distinguish students who 1) expressed initial interest and pursued ophthalmology, 2) reported initial interest in ophthalmology but did not pursue ophthalmology, and 3) did not report initial interest but pursued ophthalmology at graduation. Comparisons were made by chi-square analysis, and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results :
Among 134,723 U.S. medical students who responded to the MSQ between 2013-2021 and 98,628 students who responded to the GQ between 2017-2022, we identified 68,220 students who completed both questionnaires. Of 1,096 students who expressed initial interest in ophthalmology at matriculation, 357 (32.6%) intended to practice this specialty at graduation. 1,061 students indicated pursuing ophthalmology at graduation while not having expressed initial interest. Among the 739 (67.4%) students who lost interest in ophthalmology, 49.8% were female, compared to 39.5% in the group who sustained and 42.1% in the group who gained interest (p < 0.001). The proportion of students who identified as White, Black, Asian, or Hispanic differed between the groups who sustained, lost, or gained interest (Table 1, p = 0.003). White students made up the majority of those who sustained (58.8%) or gained (52.4%) interest in ophthalmology, compared to those who lost interest (46.3%).
Conclusions :
There is high attrition of the number of medical students interested in ophthalmology from the beginning of medical school to graduation. White and male students made up the majority of those who sustained or gained interest. Further work identifying and addressing barriers to pursuing a career in ophthalmology is needed to promote a more diverse workforce in vision healthcare.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.