Modifiable Factors Driving Medical Students’ Choice of Anesthesiology: A Multicenter Group Concept Mapping Study

Background: Anesthesiology faces global recruitment challenges. The final year of medical school strongly shapes students’ specialty preferences, yet most existing evidence comes from single-center cross-sectional studies, limiting generalizability. A clearer understanding of influential factors is essential to inform targeted recruitment and training strategies. Methods: We conducted a multicenter observational study using Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative brainstorming with quantitative sorting, clustering, and rating analysis. Six German medical schools participated between September 2024 and February 2025. Final-year medical students (N = 87) generated statements during brainstorming; 24 students sorted and 39 rated the statements on a five-point relevance scale. The primary outcome was the identification and prioritization of factors influencing anesthesiology career choice, measured through thematic clusters and their mean importance ratings. Results: Eight clusters emerged from multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis (stress = 0.208). Team culture and discipline-specific interest were rated highest, followed by mentoring. Work–life balance ranked second-lowest. Usable data sets from 24 participants were included in the sorting analysis, a number considered sufficient for robust and interpretable concept maps in this methodology. The majority of influential factors are amenable to improvement through departmental culture and educational design. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that there are well-modifiable factors that anesthesiology departments can leverage to attract students. Among these, experiences of a supportive team culture and engaging clinical learning opportunities play a decisive role, outweighing lifestyle considerations in our study. By situating these findings within a global perspective, we identify strategies that educators and policy makers worldwide can apply to strengthen recruitment into anesthesiology.