abstract: 'Although the number of medical workers has increased rapidly, its

  scarcity in rural areas remains a serious problem in China. This study

  aimed to investigate medical students'' stated preferences when choosing

  a job, so as to assist policy makers with designing alternative

  interventions to address the unbalanced distribution of the health

  workforce in China.

  A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to elicit the job

  preferences of final year medical students. Attributes include work

  location, hospital type, monthly income, bianzhi (which can be loosely

  regarded as state administrative staffing), work environment, Training

  and career development opportunity. This study was carried out during

  April to June 2017 in 4 medical universities in Shandong Province,

  China. Mixed logit models were used to analyze the relative importance

  of job attributes.

  A total of 519 medical students participated in the survey. All 6

  attributes were statistically significant with the expected sign and

  demonstrated the existence of preference heterogeneity. In the main

  effects mixed logit model, working in the city and a superior working

  environment were most strongly associated with job preference. A

  relatively unexpected finding was the relatively lower utility of

  offering bianzhi in job preferences. Subgroup analysis showed that

  females and those who have an urban background were significantly

  willing to pay more for working in the city. The most preferred scenario

  for medical students was to select a better work environment job in a

  tertiary hospital in the city, which could offer 9000 CNY monthly, with

  sufficient training and career development opportunities and bianzhi.

  Both monetary and nonmonetary intervention could be considered by policy

  makers to attract medical students to work in rural areas in China.

  There exists preference heterogeneity on medical students'' job

  preferences, which should also be taken into account in developing more

  effective policy incentive packages.'
affiliation: 'Li, SP (Corresponding Author), Shandong Univ, Sch Hlth Care Management,
  44 Wenhua Xi Rd, Jinan 250012, Shandong, Peoples R China.

  Li, SP (Corresponding Author), Shandong Univ, NHC Key Lab Hlth Econ \& Policy Res,
  44 Wenhua Xi Rd, Jinan 250012, Shandong, Peoples R China.

  Liu, Shimeng; Li, Shunping; Liu, Tongtong, Shandong Univ, Sch Hlth Care Management,
  44 Wenhua Xi Rd, Jinan 250012, Shandong, Peoples R China.

  Liu, Shimeng; Li, Shunping; Liu, Tongtong, Shandong Univ, NHC Key Lab Hlth Econ
  \& Policy Res, 44 Wenhua Xi Rd, Jinan 250012, Shandong, Peoples R China.

  Yang, Renyong, Jining Med Univ, Dept Finance, Jining, Peoples R China.

  Chen, Gang, Flinders Univ S Australia, Coll Med \& Publ Hlth, Adelaide, SA, Australia.'
article-number: e12358
author: Liu, Shimeng and Li, Shunping and Yang, Renyong and Liu, Tongtong and Chen,
  Gang
author-email: lishunping@sdu.edu.cn
author_list:
- family: Liu
  given: Shimeng
- family: Li
  given: Shunping
- family: Yang
  given: Renyong
- family: Liu
  given: Tongtong
- family: Chen
  given: Gang
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000012358
eissn: 1536-5964
files: []
issn: 0025-7974
journal: MEDICINE
keywords: 'China; discrete choice experiment; inequality; job preference; medical

  students; mixed logit model'
keywords-plus: HEALTH-CARE; REMOTE AREAS; POLICY
language: English
month: SEP
number: '38'
number-of-cited-references: '44'
papis_id: 13b87784df63a3680fbb9c67256b4846
ref: Liu2018jobpreferences
times-cited: '8'
title: Job preferences for medical students in China A discrete choice experiment
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000449338200043
usage-count-last-180-days: '2'
usage-count-since-2013: '22'
volume: '97'
web-of-science-categories: Medicine, General \& Internal
year: '2018'