OPINION OF FRESH MEDICAL GRADUATES ABOUT PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY AS THEIR CHOICE OF SPECIALTY

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the approach of recent medical graduate towards adopting PRS as their choice of specialty, and to have a direct assessment of their PRS perception. Methodology: After, ethical board approval, and consent, medical graduates of the years 2011 to 2013, from King Saud University and couple of other centers, in Riyadh, KSA, were invited to participate in the survey through questionnaires. Results: A total number of 150 questionnaires were included in the final analyses. More than 95% of respondents were interested in post graduation with mean age of 25.95 years, most of them graduated in 2013. Out of total 150 respondents, 45 (31.46%) were interested in surgical related specialties, fresh medical graduates interested in Plastic and reconstructive surgery constituted 11 (7.33%) of all respondents, 11(100%) of PRS group, related their choice to personal interest, while 9 of them declared some financial incentives. Most of recent graduates perceived PRS as related to cosmetic and burn surgery, while few had understanding about its microvascular and hand surgery techniques. Conclusion: Rising popularity of PRS among general population and their awareness regarding cosmetic procedures, has introduced a new trend in career selection for medical graduates. Statistical Analysis was performed through SPSS version 21.