Early community-based family practice elective positively influences medical students’ career considerations – a Pre-post-comparison

Tobias Deutsch,Petra Hönigschmid,Hagen Sandholzer,Thomas Frese

doi:10.1186/1471-2296-14-24

Abstract

BackgroundDemographic change and recruitment problems in family practice are increasingly threatening an adequate primary care workforce in many countries. Thus, it is important to attract young physicians to the field. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of an early community-based 28-h family practice elective with one-to-one mentoring on medical students’ consideration of family practice as a career option, their interest in working office-based, and several perceptions with regard to specific aspects of a family physician’s work.MethodsFirst- and second-year medical students completed questionnaires before and after a short community-based family practice elective, consisting of a preparatory course and a community-based practical experience with one-to-one mentoring by trained family physicians.ResultsWe found a significantly higher rate of students favoring family practice as a career option after the elective (32.7% vs. 26.0%, p = 0.039). Furthermore, the ranking of family practice among other considered career options improved (p = 0.002). Considerations to work office-based in the future did not change significantly. Perceptions regarding a family physician’s job changed positively with regard to the possibility of long-term doctor-patient relationships and treatment of complex disease patterns. The majority of the students described identification with the respective family physician tutor as a professional role model and an increased interest in the specialty.ConclusionsOur results indicate that a short community-based family practice elective early in medical education may positively influence medical students’ considerations of a career in family practice. Furthermore, perceptions regarding the specialty with significant impact on its attractiveness may be positively adjusted. Further research is needed to evaluate the influence of different components of a family practice curriculum on the de facto career decisions of young physicians after graduation.

Highlights

Demographic change and recruitment problems in family practice are increasingly threatening an adequate primary care workforce in many countries
The present study examined the effect of an early community-based 28-h family practice elective with oneto-one mentoring on medical students’ consideration of family practice as a career option and their interest in working office-based
A significant pre-post-difference could be found in the number of students declaring family practice to be their favored career option (26.0 vs. 32.7%, p = 0.039, n = 104)

Summary

Introduction

Demographic change and recruitment problems in family practice are increasingly threatening an adequate primary care workforce in many countries. The number of young physicians who completed a residency in family in medicine and regional background are associated with the choice of a career in family practice [5,6,7,8,9]. On the one hand, approaches to increase medical schools’ output of students choosing family practice/ primary care careers via selection or targeting of medical students based on characteristics demonstrably associated with career considerations or career choice are discussed, other approaches aim to convince medical students to become family physicians [6,13] The career aspiration at study entry [5,8] and personal priorities regarding interest in research, income, prestige, work-life-balance, a varied scope of practice and patients, and long-term doctor-patient relationships exert a significant impact on the career choice [5,8,10,11,12].

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