The significance of radiology in the current era of evidence-based medicine is undeniable, leading to a rising demand for radiologists. Consequently, it is important to examine whether there will be enough medical students pursuing this specialty to meet the increasing need. Perceptions of Ghanaian Clinical Medical Students Toward a Career in Radiology: A Cross-Sectional Survey. An online survey was administered to 575 clinical medical students from five public medical schools in Ghana between September 2020 and February 2021. Mean comparisons were conducted using Student’s t-test and one-way ANOVA. For questions using a Likert scale, variations in responses across different clinical years and between male and female students were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests. Logistic regression was applied to identify key factors associated with choosing radiology as a career. Of the 575 participants, 340 (59.1%) were male, and the average age was 24.64 ± 3.08 years. Most students acknowledged the significance of radiology in evidence-based medicine, with a mean Likert score of 4.62 (SD = 0.82); this perception was notably higher among third-year students (p = 0.004). Approximately 30% of respondents reported receiving inadequate radiology instruction, primarily due to a limited number of lectures (89.9%), shortage of teaching staff (9.5%), and difficulty comprehending the material (0.7%). A total of 133 students (23.1%) indicated an interest in specializing in radiology, motivated chiefly by flexible working hours (61.9%) and high earning potential (68.3%), whereas reduced patient contact (8.0%) was the least cited factor. The likelihood of choosing radiology increased by 2.319 times for students valuing flexible working hours (95% CI: 1.413–3.805, P = 0.001). Furthermore, the presence of teleradiology significantly influenced students’ decision to pursue a career in the field (p = 0.001). In general, clinical students expressed a range of perspectives but maintained a positive attitude toward radiology as a specialty.
