Pathology as a profession: contribution of undergraduate training on choice of career among final year students of a medical school in north central Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The choice of pathology as a profession by would be resident doctors, will, to a large extent depend on the amount of knowledge acquired on the subject at the undergraduate level.
METHODS: A questionnaire was self administered to final year medical students of University of Jos shortly after the completion of the final written paper in medicine in September 2005; meant to elicit their views on choosing patology as a profession after graduation.
RESULTS: Eighty-five students enrolled comprising 65 (76.5%) males and 20 (23.5%) females Ninety six percent of the students were between 26 and 30 years. Those who found Pathology interesting were 76.5%; 18.8% picked pathology as their career of first choice after graduation 5.9%, 3.5% and 5.9% as 2nd, 3rd and 10th choices repectively. Among the pathology disciplines, 8.2%, 4.7%, 3.5% and 2.4% would specialize in Histopathology, Haematology, Chemical Pathology and Medical Microbiology respectively. The students generally complained of inadequate time and exposure during the postings as well as the difficulty in understanding Medical Microbiology.
CONCLUSION: More time should be allocated to the teaching of Pathology at the undergraduate level. Learning enhancing aids should be introduced such as: regular practical demonstrations, audio-visual teaching aids, computer assisted programs and the establishment of pathology museums in the medical schools across the country.