A new Israeli study finds that the next generation of doctors is no longer willing to sacrifice personal life for medicine. Published in the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, the study was led by Prof. Ofira Zlotogorski of Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, with researchers from Sheba’s teaching authority, Reichman University and the Gertner Institute. It examined what drives specialty choice among final-year medical students and interns in Israel, against the backdrop of persistent shortages in some specialties and in peripheral regions.
The online survey, conducted from July 2024 to January 2025, included 527 participants, 54.1% women, with an average age of 30.5. Of them, 61.5% were married or in long-term relationships, 30.7% had children, and about 73% studied medicine in Israel. Participants ranked factors such as career advancement, income, work hours, research, teaching, contact with patients and work-life balance.
The researchers grouped the motives into three categories: interpersonal factors, career and academic development, and lifestyle. Sheba career consultant Dr. Reut Shoham said the findings show a deep shift in how young physicians think about work. “The new generation of doctors is not willing to choose between career and personal life,” she said, adding that shared parenting, mental health and avoiding burnout matter to both men and women. The study found that women valued interpersonal factors more than men, while no major gender gap appeared in career, research or lifestyle considerations.
Specialty preferences also differed. Applicants to surgical fields and obstetrics and gynecology valued advancement, research and professional growth more highly, while those drawn to psychiatry and pediatrics put more weight on lifestyle, including hours and work-life balance. Graduates of foreign medical schools rated both career and lifestyle factors higher than Israeli graduates, which the authors linked to tougher recognition rules under the Yaakov Biran reform and to experience in European systems with shorter working hours. Interns and doctors who had not yet started internship emphasized career and academic development more than final-year students.
The researchers said the main lesson is that training systems can no longer ignore work-life balance if they want to recruit and keep young doctors. Without changes, they warned, physicians may choose medical-tech companies, health startups or work abroad. Shoham called for fewer on-calls and shorter hours, less administrative burden, more flexibility, and broader access to research and academic promotion, saying better working conditions should be treated as a strategic tool for retaining medical staff.
