Emigration and International Training Intentions Among Colombian Medical Students: A Multi-Institution Pilot Survey

Objective: Colombia faces a health workforce shortage as physicians emigrate, and recent multi-institution data on emigration intentions among Colombian medical students are limited.This pilot study assessed the feasibility of a multi-institution online survey and described Colombian medical students' intentions to train or practice abroad.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of medical students at one private and two public Colombian universities; the survey was open from 16 June to 10 August 2025, and each school emailed one invitation to its enrolled medical students.Feasibility was described by response, completion, item nonresponse, and completion time; no feasibility criteria were set in advance.Outcomes were whether students would consider additional medical training abroad and whether they would consider emigrating to practice medicine after graduation.Respondents younger than 18 years were excluded.Proportions are reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Of approximately 2,200 students invited, 115 began the survey (5.2%) and 112 completed it (97.4% of those who began); five respondents younger than 18 years were excluded, leaving 107 for analysis.Item non-response was 0.7%, and the median completion time was 104 seconds.Most respondents were female (60.7%),White/Mestizo (73.8%), and from urban areas (86.9%).Overall, 97.1% (102/105; 95% CI 91.9-99.0)would consider training abroad, most often residency (88.2%), and 89.7% (96/107; 95% CI 82.5-94.2) would consider emigrating to practice medicine.With only 11 students not considering emigration, the pilot could not test differences between subgroups.Conclusion: In this self-selected pilot sample, nearly nine in 10 Colombian medical students would consider emigrating to practice medicine.The low response rate limits generalizability and likely inflates these estimates.The pilot identified changes needed for a national survey, including repeated contacts, an institution identifier, a pretested and validated instrument, and duplicate-response controls.