Professiograms of residency specialties as a tool for career guidance in healthcare

The health care system is experiencing a staff shortage due to the outflow of young personnel. Therefore, it is important to provide earlier career specialists with quality professional guidance when choosing residency programs for high commitment to the profession in the future. Aim. To carry out the professiography of residency specialties of the unified group 31.00.00 “Clinical Medicine” through the allocation and description of physicians’ practice in the corresponding specialties. Materials and methods. The study involved 908 respondents, representatives of 57 residency specialties. The respondents assessed various aspects of their educational-working activity in accordance with the residency specialty. Data analysis was performed using k-means clustering. Results. The study divided respondents into three clusters that differed in their work patterns. Physicians in the first cluster rarely deal with patients’ emotional distress and are more likely to work in a stable environment with no night shifts. Physicians in the second cluster are more likely to work with emotionally disturbed patients, face more unstable work schedules, and utilize complex manual skills and equipment in their practice. Cluster three physicians also frequently deal with patients’ emotional distress, but work in a more “relaxied” environment, such as no night shifts or mandatory on-call hours. Conclusion. The study has shown that the professional practice of physicians within the unified group of specialties “Clinical Medicine” can vary significantly. The results obtained can be used to create more accurate career guidance tools that will take into account the specific features of work in different medical specialties, and help students to take a more reasonable approach to the choice of specialty, by comparing the existing working conditions of physicians and their own ideas about the most preferable work organization alternatives. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.