Designing a Conceptual Model for Medical Specialty Education Planning and the Country’s Demographic Composition Using Grounded Theory

Abstract

The present study aims to design a model for planning the capacity of medical specialty education and the demographic composition of the country using grounded theory. This is a qualitative study conducted within the inductive paradigm. Semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection tool, and the collected data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. In this qualitative research, purposive sampling was employed, and based on the principle of theoretical saturation, the required data were obtained through 15 interviews and the review of upstream documents and prior studies. The findings of the study include the identification of causal, contextual, and intervening factors as well as the consequences of the required capacity for medical specialty education, culminating in the presentation of a conceptual model. The results indicate that policy and educational system misalignment with actual health needs, unequal and inefficient distribution of human resources in health, economic and financial barriers to the development of specialties, and sociocultural and demographic changes affecting demand, along with individual factors and career preferences in specialty selection, were identified as the main causal factors in the model.