Family medicine as a career option: How students’ attitudes changed during medical school

Cheri Bethune; Penelope A. Hansen; Diana Deacon; Katrina Hurley; Allison Kirby; Marshall Godwin

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Table 1

Number of students from each class of 60 who responded at the 5 data-collection points

DATA-COLLECTION POINTS	2001 N (%)	2002 N (%)	2003 N (%)	2004 N (%)	2005 N (%)	2006 N (%)	2007 N (%)	2008 N (%)
1 Total			59	59	60	57	60	59
• Male			26 (44)	32 (54)	21 (35)	17 (30)	23 (38)	25 (42)
• Female			33 (56)	27 (46)	39 (65)	40 (70)	37 (62)	34 (58)
2 Total			58	53	51	44	8
• Male			26 (45)	28 (53)	16 (31)	11 (25)	3 (38)
• Female			32 (55)	25 (47)	35 (68)	33 (75)	5 (62)
3 Total		56	52	50	47	5
• Male		26 (46)	23 (44)	26 (52)	13 (28)	2 (40)
• Female		30 (54)	29 (56)	24 (48)	34 (72)	3 (60)
4 Total	55	53	52	53	9	9
• Male	24 (44)	27 (51)	24 (46)	27 (51)	1 (11)	4 (44)
• Female	31 (56)	26 (49)	28 (54)	26 (49)	8 (89)	5 (56)
5 Total	44	49	54	41	26	53
• Male	19 (43)	25 (51)	26 (48)	21 (51)	8 (31)	16 (30)
• Female	25 (57)	24 (49)	28 (52)	20 (49)	18 (69)	37 (70)

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Table 2

Classes of 2003 and 2004: Number and proportion of responding medical students who were considering family medicine as a career choice at each data-collection point.

DATA-COLLECTION POINTS	2003 N (%)	2004 N (%)	2005 N (%)	2006 N (%)
1	46 (78)	36 (61)	42 (70)	39 (68)
2	45 (78)	32 (60)	29 (57)	33 (75)
3	29 (56)	21 (42)	23 (49)	3 (60)^*
4	27 (52)	24 (45)	7 (77)^*	6 (66)^*
5	28 (52)	20 (49)	12 (46)	32 (60)

↵* Small number of respondents.

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Table 3

Classes of 2001 to 2008: Number and proportion of responding students considering family medicine as a career choice at entry and exit from of medical school.

DATA-COLLECTION POINTS	2001 N (%)	2002 N (%)	2003 N (%)	2004 N (%)	2005 N (%)	2006 N (%)	2007 N (%)	2008 N (%)s
1 (medical school entry)	NA	NA	46 (78)	36 (61)	42 (70)	39 (68)	39 (65)	39 (66)
5 (medical school exit)	28 (64)	18 (37)	28 (52)	20 (49)	12 (46)	32 (60)	NA	NA
Pvalues(McNemar test)	NA	NA	<.001	<.001	<.001	.08	NA	NA

NA—not applicable.

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Table 4

Change in career choice through undergraduate training: Students considering and not considering family medicine (FM) at entry to and exit from medical school.

CLASS (N)	ENTRY RESPONDENTS N (%)	EXIT RESPONDENTS N (%)	NET % GAIN OR LOSS
2003 (59)	46 (78) were considering FM	21 (46) were still considering FM	−54
		25 (54) were not considering FM	−54
	13 (22) were not considering FM	4 (31) were now considering FM	+31
		9 (69) were still not considering FM	+31
2004 (59)	36 (61) were considering FM	17 (47) were still considering FM	−53
		19 (53) were not considering FM	−53
	23 (39) were not considering FM	2 (9) were now considering FM	+9
		21 (91) were still not considering FM	+9
2005 (60)	42 (70) were considering FM	10 (24) were still considering FM	−76
		32 (76) were not considering FM	−76
	18 (30) were not considering FM	1 (6) was now considering FM	+6
		17 (94) were still not considering FM	+6
2006 (57)	39 (68) were considering FM	24 (62) were still considering FM	−38
		15 (38) were not considering FM	−38
	18 (32) were not considering FM	6 (33) were now considering FM	+33
		12 (67) were still not considering FM	+33