Medical Career Choices: Traditional and New Possibilities

George V Richard,John H Lockwood,Deanne M Nakamoto

doi:10.1001/jama.285.17.2249-jms0502-3-1

Abstract

Medical Career Choices: Traditional and New Possibilities

Highlights

MSJAMA is prepared by the MSJAMA editors and JAMA staff and is published monthly from September through June
The Association of American Medical Colleges has monitored medical students’ future practice patterns since 1978, polling medical students each year prior to graduation to ask them about their career plans
The Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) is a national questionnaire that has been administered in the spring of each year to graduating US medical students since 1978.1 The 2000 version of the GQ was Webbased and included more than 250 items covering a wide variety of topics, including educational experiences, student debt, and career plans

Summary

Introduction

MSJAMA is prepared by the MSJAMA editors and JAMA staff and is published monthly from September through June. It provides a forum for the news, ideas, and opinions that affect medical students and showcases student writing, research, and artwork. Others continue to hold that a “maldistribution” of physicians into urban and suburban areas, rather than rural and inner-city regions, is the root of the problem.[3] Recent data suggest that this practice disparity, the target of primary care initiatives in many medical schools, has not closed, and may even have widened.[4]. Some medical graduates are choosing to reject traditional clinical roles altogether. In this issue, we explore the continuing evolution of physicians’ clinical and nonclinical roles, including additional career possibilities. The Association of American Medical Colleges has monitored medical students’ future practice patterns since 1978, polling medical students each year prior to graduation to ask them about their career plans

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Conclusion