Assessment of Student Perceptions of Aspects of a Career in Radiation Oncology

Purpose: To determine medical students ' views of various aspects of a career in radiation oncology (RO) to identify areas that may bene fi t from reform and to guide initiatives to stimulate broader and more diverse student interest in the specialty. Methods and materials: An electronic survey was sent to student oncology interest group members at seven US medical schools. The survey asked students to rate 19 aspects of RO on a 5 -point bipolar Likert-type scale. Descriptive statistics are reported, along with subgroup analyses based on participants ' demographics. Results: The response rate was 51.1% (n = 275 of 538). The most favorably rated aspects of RO were outpatient working hours (mean +/- SD Likert-type rating of 4.51 +/- 0.82), routinely working with other physicians (4.45 +/- 0.76), and use of advanced technology to treat patients. The most unfavorably rated aspects of RO were less geographic fl exibility for residency or employment (1.98 +/- 1.04), spending a lot of time on a computer doing treatment planning (2.80 +/- 1.21), and having a job that is not well understood by most doctors and the general public (2.89 +/- 1.02). Gender was associated with signi fi cant differences in 8 of 19 questions in how each aspect of RO was viewed. Few differences were observed based on race or ethnicity, though Asian participants had a signi fi cantly more favorable view of RO being a more science -oriented specialty compared with White or underrepresented students, respectively (3.50 versus 3.21 versus 2.84, P = .01). Conclusions: These fi ndings inform the RO community in the development of more effective initiatives to encourage students to fully explore the specialty.