Medical Students' Perceptions of Pathology Education in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: It is not entirely understood how medical students make their future career decisions or what influences them. Furthermore, the factors that affect the perception of pathology as a future career are diverse and related to the exposure of medical students to pathology education in their first 3 years in medical school.

Aim of the study: We aim to assess how medical students in Jordanian Universities perceive pathology as a potential job and the variables influencing their decisions. To identify the preferred medical specialties among medical students in Jordan.

Materials and methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on a randomly selected sample of students from the faculties of medicine at Jordanian universities, including those in the second to sixth year and recently graduated students. Data was collected via a web-based self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the responses. Pearson's Chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test were utilized for variable assessment. Statistical significance was defined as a P-value of <.05. All statistical analyses were performed in R 4.4.2 (Vienna, Austria).

Results: When comparing students based on their perceived adequacy of pathology training in the first 3 years of medical school, several significant differences emerged across key characteristics: the understanding of the pathologist's job, case-based learning led by pathologists, ratings for a separate pathology course, and the perception of pathologists as introverts. On the other hand, no statistically significant differences were found in age, gender, secondary school background, or whether students considered pathology as a future specialty across the different training exposure groups.