Factors associated with changing levels of interest in primary care during medical school

Abstract

Schools wishing to graduate more students who enter primary care specialties may want to raise the number of primary care elective courses to increase students' interests, and to help them choose to enter and remain in primary care specialties.

Factors Related to the Choice of Family Medicine: A Reassessment and Literature Review

“…17 Two studies found that students rejecting family medicine were concerned about a lack of prestige, low income potential, and low intellectual content of the specialty. 24,37 Generalist orientation was found to predict choice of a family medicine residency at the point of selection of a residency. 50 These studies suggest that perceptions about the characteristics and content of specialties influence specialty decisions, although the available research is extremely limited in scope.…”

“…17,24,34 -36 One retrospective study of family physicians did find that a majority reported interest increasing during medical school. 37 Another study demonstrated that the ability to attract students to family medicine during medical school is positively related to the family medicine output of the school.…”

“…35,37,49 All found that having role models is related to specialty choice; in particular, negative role models were cited as a reason for switching away from family medicine. 37 Despite the intuitive belief that positive role models should be important in specialty selection, these studies generally suggest that it is the negative experiences that have the most impact.…”

Predictors for choosing the specialty of Family Medicine from undergraduate knowledge and attitudes

“…13 The study by Xu et al may clarify this issue. 22 They asked general practitioners in the USA whether they had any strong inter- The appeal of FM increased over the years of study (36.7%, 41.7%…”

Elección de las plazas de Medicina de Familia en Castilla-La Mancha en las oposiciones MIR de 2011 y 2013

“…La elección de especialidad refleja a lo que han sido expuestos los graduados, las modas y la percepción sobre las especialidades como profesiones sanitarias 2 . Xu et al 16 , en una encuesta que hicieron a médicos generalistas de Estados Unidos, preguntaban si habían tenido mucho interés por la AP antes de su formación universitaria y si esa inclinación había variado durante la formación, con especial atención a sus experiencias clínicas en este ámbito asistencial. A partir de las respuestas de 1.561 participantes, encontraron que el 45 % había aumentado su interés por la AP durante su formación de grado; en el 48 % la inclinación había permanecido constante y en el 7 %, había disminuido.…”