Before G-hour Matching Day 2026, resident doctor candidates are advised to carefully consider when choosing a major, because this may be a decision associated with their entire career.
On September 9, candidates for resident doctors of course 51 of Hanoi Medical University will choose their training majors for the next 3 years.
Before Matching Day 2026, Lao Dong Newspaper would like to introduce an article by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu, Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, sharing personal opinions on one of the events of concern to the medical industry.
Choosing boarding school
I still remember vividly my decision to choose Cardiology more than 30 years ago. At that time, students had to choose a major before taking the dormitory entrance exam and directly compete with people with the same aspirations to win very few dormitory slots.
The whole course has about 450 students, but the boarding quota is only 30 people, less than 10%. The exam conditions are also quite strict: the exam score for the registered major must be above 7 and the diploma from average to good or higher.
The competition ratio at that time was not too high. Some majors only had 2 targets and only 2 people registered. Most students before deciding to choose a major would find out who would "fight" with them. If they realized the opponent was too strong, many people would withdraw to choose another major, or even not take the exam anymore.
More than 30 years have passed. The current method of recruiting resident doctors has changed a lot compared to our time. These changes certainly have many progressive points, suitable for modern training requirements.
However, from the perspective of someone who has undergone training and worked in the profession for many years, I think that the current selection of majors still has points that need to be considered.
Don't force them to choose a career before they have time to understand the profession.
The first thing that worries me is that we are asking students to choose majors too early.
During their university years, a student only has a very short period of time to interact with each department. They may only go through Cardiology for two months, Respiratory for two months, Digestive for a similar period of time...
Is two months enough for a young person to understand a medical specialty, know if they really love it, are suitable and want to stick with it for decades to come?
In the US, choosing a deep specialty (fellowship) usually takes place after the doctor has completed the general residency program. Students have many years to experience reality, experience different specialties, work with many teachers, sometimes like it, sometimes get bored, sometimes be disappointed, and sometimes be inspired.
We are asking young people to choose a major that can decide their entire career when their baggage of experience is very small.
Hot industry" becomes a measure of choice
Another consequence is that the current form of selection inadvertently creates a psychology of "hot industry - cold industry".
Every Matching season, questions reappear: "How many points will Cardiology get this year to pass?", "Is foreign language hot?", "Which major takes the highest score?".
And thus, a very humane decision - choosing where you will spend most of your life taking care of and treating patients - is at risk of turning into a score race.
I have witnessed students who are very suitable for Pathology, Allergy or some majors that are not in the top group in terms of scores. These are also fields with high demand and a great need for high-quality human resources. But when there are good exam scores, the general psychology is: "There is no reason not to choose a hot major".
They choose Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Obstetrics or a major that is being sought after by many people, simply because it is considered a "good" choice. Then a few years later, many people realize they are not really happy with the job they have chosen.
Perhaps we need to review the organization of training and selection. Medicine has no cold industry. Only doctors are cold to patients.
A good surgeon can successfully perform a difficult surgery. But that does not mean their value is greater than a respiratory doctor who detects a lung cancer case early, or a pathology doctor who makes an accurate diagnosis to help patients be treated in the right direction.
From the patient's perspective, a specialty is only truly "hot" when the doctor there helps them to be treated better.
Before becoming an expert, you must be a good doctor
The third thing, and also the thing that worries me the most, is that we need to train a good intern before training a specialist in Cardiology, Hematology, Emergency Resuscitation...
Currently, some majors such as Surgery, Obstetrics, Pediatrics are following this direction: input is jointly trained, and in the final stage or when preparing a graduation thesis, they choose a deep major to pursue. I think this is a thought-provoking approach.
Modern medicine requires high specialization, but specialization does not mean dividing medical knowledge into separate "islands". A good expert must first of all be a good doctor.
Instead of matching too early to immediately divide learners into majors, I think another model can be considered.
Candidates can take entrance exams in large groups such as Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Pediatrics..., similar to the way previously organized. In the first two years, learners are truly trained together. Students have the opportunity to go through many specialties, be on duty, work with doctors, be "holding hands and guiding", witness real cases and more importantly, experience both success and failure.
Those two years will help you answer an important question: Which field do you really fit in? Then, choosing a deep major is not just based on scores.
It must be a combination of capacity, suitability, aspirations of learners and evaluation of the Training Council.
Matching Day should be a happy day - the day every young doctor finds their place. Choosing the right major, suitable for their abilities and interests, will help them become good doctors, happy with their profession.
