Objective: To assess the influence of fainting episodes on career intensions in medical students and to determine the risk factors of fainting, the preventive measures taken and effectiveness of these preventive measures.
Methodology: This cross-sectional quantitative questionnaire-based study was conducted from October 2016 to December 2016 at Federal Medical & Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan. Medical students were randomly selected from private and public medical colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Results: A total of 170 students participated in the study. Amongst them 107(62.9%) were females and 63(37.1%) were males. 56(32.9%) respondents experienced fainting or its prodormal symptoms in operation theater (OT). Out of these 56, 48(85.7%) experienced fainting only in operating environment while 8(14.28%) experienced fainting outside OT as well. The predisposing factors for fainting was bleeding for 18(10.5%), incision for 8(4.7%), blades & scalpel for 4(2.3%), use of surgical masks 2(1.1%), operating environment for 18(10.5%) and busy environment for 4(2.3%) individuals. OT was related to any specific procedure in 38(22.3%) individuals. Fainting of individuals affected the OT working in case of 23(13.5%) individuals. Amongst them, procedure was delayed in 8(4.7%) and surgeon attention was diverted in 15(8.82%) respondents. Despite of the fainting episodes, 23(13.5%) wanted to pursue surgical profession, while 43(25.3%) did not.
Conclusion: Fainting in OT, a commonly encountered yet a discouraging factor for medical students with female predominance to pursue a surgical profession.
Key words: Fainting, surgical career, medical students.
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