Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Push and stay factors affecting Irish medical student migration intentions

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

A significant proportion of medical students in Ireland have demonstrated strong intentions to migrate following their graduation. Factors influencing these intentions are poorly understood. Our study aimed to investigate ‘push’ and ‘stay’ factors that may influence the migration plans of medical students.

Methods

Cross-sectional survey of 2273 medical students in Ireland using a mixed methods approach. Survey was completed by 2273 medical students, of which 263 provided free text data that are analysed in this paper.

Results

Identified push factors include negative perception regarding career opportunities, working conditions and lifestyle, while family was the only identified strong stay factor. Qualitative analysis of free text responses revealed themes that included training, career, personal and financial factors.

Conclusion

This study has provided insight into the factors that influence medical student migration intentions. There is a strong need for all stakeholders to collectively discuss and engage in possible solutions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gouda P, Kitt K, Evans DS, Goggin D, McGrath D, Last J, et al (2015) Ireland’s medical brain drain: migration intentions of Irish medical students. Hum Resour Health [Internet] 13(1):11. http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=25778699&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

  2. Health Service Executive Medical Education and Training Division (2012) Implementation of the reform of the intern year: Second interim report

  3. Bruce-Brand R, Broderick J, Ong J, O’Byrne J (2012) Diagnosing the doctors’ departure: survey on sources of dissatisfaction among Irish junior doctors. Ir Med J 105(1):15–18

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Irish Medical Organisation (2012) Irish Medical Organisation 2011 annual report and accounts, pp 1–96

  5. Rao NR, Rao UK, Cooper RA (2006 ) Indian medical students’ views on immigration for training and practice. Academic Med J Assoc Am Med Coll [Internet] 81(2):185–8. http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=16436584&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

  6. O’Sullivan KE, Byrne JS, Walsh TN (2014) Basic surgical training in Ireland: the impact of operative experience, training program allocation and mentorship on trainee satisfaction. Ir J Med Sci 182(4):687–692. doi:10.1007/s11845-013-0956-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Akl EA, Maroun N, Major S, Afif C, Abdo A, Choucair J, et al (2008) Post-graduation migration intentions of students of Lebanese medical schools: a survey study. BMC Public Health [Internet] 8(1):191. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/191

  8. Syed NA, Khimani F, Andrades M, Ali SK, Paul R (2007) Reasons for migration among medical students from Karachi. Med Educ [Internet] 42(1):61–8. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2007.02904.x

  9. Krajewski-Siuda K, Szromek A, Romaniuk P, Gericke CA, Szpak A, Kaczmarek K (2012) Emigration preferences and plans among medical students in Poland. Hum Resour Health [Internet] 10(1):8. http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=22546006&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

  10. George G, Reardon C (2013) Preparing for export? Medical and nursing student migration intentions post-qualification in South Africa. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med [Internet] 5(1). http://www.phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/483

  11. Majia A, Pizurki H, Rayston E (1979) Physician and nurse migration. Analysis and plicy implications. WHO, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ahmad OB (2005) Managing medical migration from poor countries. BMJ 331(7507):43–45

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Eastwood JB, Conroy RE, Naicker S, West PA, Tutt RC (2005) Loss of health professionals from sub-Saharan Africa: the pivotal role of the UK. Lancet 365(9474):1893–1900

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Bezuidenhout MM, Joubert G, Hiemstra LA, Struwig MC (2009) Reasons for doctor migration from South Africa. S Afr Fam Pract 51(3):211–215. http://www.ajol.info/index.php/safp/article/view/44783/28276

  15. Sharma A, Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ (2012) Why UK-trained doctors leave the UK: cross-sectional survey of doctors in New Zealand. JRSM [Internet] 105(1):25–34. http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/doi/10.1258/jrsm.2011.110146

  16. Moss PJ, Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ, Lee P (2004) Reasons for considering leaving UK medicine: questionnaire study of junior doctors’ comments. BMJ 329(7477):1263

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Creswell JW, Plano Clark VL (2007) Designing and conducting mixed methods research. CA: Sage, Thousand Oaks

  18. Thomas DR (2006) A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. Am J Eval [Internet] 27(2):237–46. http://aje.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/1098214005283748

  19. Imrie K (2014) Training 21st century clinical leaders: a review of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland training programmes by Professor Kevin Imrie 1:1–12. http://www.rcpi.ie/content/docs/000001/2003_5_media.pdf?1406798301

  20. Irish Medical Council (2014) Medical Council Education Website [Internet]. http://www.medicalcouncil.ie/Education/

  21. Canadian Residency Matching Service. Program descriptions—CaRMS. http://www.carms.ca/en/residency/r-1/program-descriptions/

  22. American Medical Association (2012) Graduate Medical Education Directory 2012–2013

  23. Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (2015) Higher specialist training. http://www.rcpi.ie/article.php?locID=1.6.197.195. Accessed 9 Nov 2015

  24. Health Service Executive (2015) Health Service Performance Report

  25. McGrath P, Wong A, Holewa H (2011) Canadian and Australian licensing policies for international medical graduates: a web-based comparison. Educ Health (Abingdon) [Internet] 24(1):452. http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21710414&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

  26. Matthews M, Heath S, Neufeld A, Samarasena A (2013) Evaluation of physician return-for-service agreements in Newfoundland and Labrador, pp 43–56

  27. Buckley R (2005) Social trends and ecotourism: adventure recreation and amenity migration. J Ecotur [Internet] 4(1):56–61. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14724040508668438

  28. Goldacre MJ, Davidson JM, Lambert TW (2009) Retention in the British National Health Service of medical graduates trained in Britain: cohort studies. BMJ 338:b1977–b1987

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Eysenbach G, Wyatt J (2002) Using the Internet for surveys and health research. J Med Internet Res 4:13

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank all the students who participated in the study and all medical school staff who helped in administering the study. We thank Prof. Ruairí Brugha and colleagues for input on study design, the Irish Medical Council, and the HSE Medical Education and Training Committee for background information and support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Pishoy Gouda & Diarmuid O’Donovan

  2. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Pishoy Gouda

  3. University Hospital Galway, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Kevin Kitt

  4. Department of Public Health, Merlin Park Hospital, HSE West, Galway, Ireland

    David S. Evans & Deirdre Goggin

  5. University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Deirdre McGrath

  6. UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Jason Last

  7. Education Division, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Martina Hennessy

  8. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

    Richard Arnett

  9. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Siun O’Flynn

  10. College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS), National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Fidelma Dunne

Authors
  1. Pishoy Gouda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kevin Kitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David S. Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Deirdre Goggin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Deirdre McGrath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jason Last
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Martina Hennessy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Richard Arnett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Siun O’Flynn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Fidelma Dunne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Diarmuid O’Donovan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pishoy Gouda.

Ethics declarations

Transparency declaration

The lead author affirms that the manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned (and, if relevant, registered) have been explained.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Informed consents were obtained from all participants electronically prior to starting the survey. This article does not contain any studies involving interventions on human participants.

Funding

No funding was received for this project.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gouda, P., Kitt, K., Evans, D.S. et al. Push and stay factors affecting Irish medical student migration intentions. Ir J Med Sci 186, 25–31 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-015-1388-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-015-1388-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation