Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine Lead Young Doctors' Specialty Preferences in Israel

The Israeli Ministry of Health released the results of a 2025 survey of 1,831 medical interns who completed their internships in hospitals across the country. Among respondents, 61% graduated from foreign medical schools, 30.7% from Israeli institutions, with the remainder unspecified. Internal medicine emerged as the most preferred specialty by a wide margin, followed by pediatrics and family medicine. Other popular fields included obstetrics and gynecology, anesthesiology, orthopedic surgery, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and general surgery. Less favored specialties were vascular surgery, occupational medicine, nuclear medicine, clinical microbiology, and public health.

Gender differences were notable: most men chose internal medicine, while women predominated in pediatrics and family medicine. Additionally, most interns preferred to specialize abroad in internal medicine, whereas pediatrics and obstetrics training was favored domestically. The main factors influencing specialty and location choices were personal interest (52%), professional challenge, satisfaction, working conditions, and future earning potential.

Geographically, the majority preferred to train in central Israel, followed by Haifa and Jerusalem, with the southern district least favored. Satisfaction rates were highest in internal medicine and emergency departments (70-73%), pediatrics (69%), and lowest in surgery (49%). Among top medical centers, Ichilov Hospital led with 82% satisfaction, followed by Soroka (79%), Rambam (75%), Sheba (74%), Beilinson (72%), and Hadassah (71%). Large hospitals like Meir and Assaf HaRofeh also reported high satisfaction, while smaller hospitals such as Rebecca Ziv and Laniado showed satisfaction rates above 80%.

In pediatrics, Rebecca Ziv Hospital had the highest satisfaction at 90%, with Assuta Ashdod and Laniado also scoring highly. Among major centers, Beilinson and Ichilov had the most satisfied pediatric interns. Emergency medicine satisfaction was highest at Rebecca Ziv (91%) and Assuta Ashdod (86%).

Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Division, emphasized the importance of internship in shaping Israel’s future medical workforce and highlighted ongoing reforms to improve training environments. Dr. Orly Greenfeld, head of Medical Licensing, noted the survey reflects young doctors’ aspirations for quality training and meaningful professional development, underscoring the ministry’s commitment to enhancing internship conditions nationwide, especially in peripheral regions.