3.1.2 Perceptions about cardiothoracic surgery
Whilst many studies attempted to quantify interest amongst preclinical and clinical medical students, junior doctors, and even core surgical trainees, it is difficult to ascertain if such interest will ultimately result in CT surgery being the final choice of surgery.
With only 3 included studies in Asia or Africa, the trends observed in these studies may not reflect the overall international student perspective of medical students about the specialty. However, in Alawad et al. and Algethami et al., the proportion of interest is comparatively low, being 16.50% (11) and 4.50% (5) respectively. Another important result is the overall discrepancy between male and female interest in the specialty, particularly at a preclinical level; men were keener and more involved in the specialty as students.