Choosing Family Medicine Research Articles

Perception of family medicine as the career option among young Indian graduates

Aims and Objectives: 1. To estimate the number of graduates who had exposure to family medicine specialty. 2. To estimate the number of graduates who consider family medicine as the carrier option. 3. To compare the perception of family medicine as career option among the young graduates who had exposure to family medicine during their training or practice with no exposure. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. The doctors graduated 2018 onwards were contacted through SIMSA (South Indian Medical Students Association) and WhatsApp groups (students doing the rural health service and intern WhatsApp). Subjects who consented for the study filled the google form. Filled Google forms were evaluated. Results: First choice of among the graduates is general medicine followed by general surgery and paediatrics. Family medicine is 4th in the order. There is overall a very positive perception about the family medicine among the respondents irrespective of exposure to family medicine. Majority of them feel that it gives good financial gain (55.55%), interesting (67.03%), work and family balance (75.55%), which contributes to individual and community health (84.07%) and essential part of healthcare system (83.33%). Graduates feel that career growth (26.66%) and academic growth (33.70%) are less and it is not popular (38.88%). If there is an opportunity, majority would choose family medicine (54.44%). Conclusions: Around 5.9% are open to choose family medicine as the career option. Medical graduates perceive family medicine subject to give them good work and family balance and the subject is essential part of healthcare system and contributes to the individual and community health, and at the same time, it may not give them great financial gain, academic and career growth.

The Rural Integrated Community Clerkship: a vital stretch in the Alberta rural physician workforce pipeline.

Longitudinal integrated clerkships are thought to operate synergistically with factors such as rural background and practice intent to determine medical graduates' practice types and locations-sometimes known as the pipeline effect. We examined the influence of the rural integrated community clerkship (ICC) at the University of Alberta on students choosing family medicine and rural practice. We completed a retrospective cohort analysis of graduates from 2009-2016. The cohort was cross-referenced by background, type of clerkship, practice type and practice location. We used χ2 analyses and risk ratios to measure the relative likelihood that ICC students would settle on rural practice and/or family medicine. ICC participation had more influence than rural background on students' choice of rural and/or family practice, and both factors were synergistic. Rotation-based clerkship students were least likely to enter family medicine or rural practice. The ICC is a clerkship model that influences students to become rural and/or family physicians, regardless of their rural/urban origins. The ICC diverts rural-interested students into rural practice and protects rural-origin students from ending up in urban practice. Expanding ICC infrastructure, including sustaining the rural physician workforce, will benefit rural Alberta communities by increasing the numbers of UA graduates in rural practice.

"Factors related to choosing family medicine as future career among senior medical students. An experience of different universities in Saudi Arabia"

"Factors related to choosing family medicine as future career among senior medical students. An experience of different universities in Saudi Arabia"

Factors affecting the decision to choose family medicine as a specialty among medical interns at King Abdul-Aziz University

Background: Family medicine is one of the primary specialties in medicine. This study aims to obtain in-depth information from medical interns at King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia who are interested in choosing family medicine as their future specialty and highlight key points of misconception and knowledge gaps regarding family medicine that might affect their decision-making process. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2021 to October 2021 among medical interns enrolled at King Abdul-Aziz University. Data were collected via online questionnaires distributed on social media. The study excluded first- to sixth-year medical students. The questionnaire included sex, grade point average, perception of family medicine as a future specialty, and knowledge about the family medicine residency program in Saudi Arabia. We used IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) for data analysis. p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Most participants reported preferring a medical specialty during their clinical and internship years. Most participants had moderate to high levels of perception of family medicine as a future specialty. Regarding the level of perception of possible rotation during the family medicine program, most participants considered internal medicine, and fewer than 50% considered pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN). Conclusions: Half of the participants preferred a medical specialty as a future career, including a family medicine specialty. Interns had misconceptions regarding extra rotations outside of internal medicine, pediatrics, and OB/GYN rotations offered during the Saudi residency program.

Determinants of Choosing Family Medicine as a Specialty for Young Doctors

Determinants of Choosing Family Medicine as a Specialty for Young Doctors

People, Not Programs: Improving Diversity in the Family Medicine Workforce.

Patients are best served by a health care workforce that reflects the diversity of their community. Increasing diversity of family medicine requires a long-term effort to recruit more medical students from underrepresented in medicine (URiM, defined as people of Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American or Pacific Islander heritage) backgrounds into family medicine residencies. This paper examines factors that influence URiM medical students to choose family medicine residencies. Data were collected via a Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey of family medicine clerkship directors. Correlations examined associations between the percent URiM faculty, percent URiM preceptors, percent clerkship cases addressing health equity, and the percent of URiM students choosing family medicine residencies. t tests determined associations between clerkship director race, preclinical electives on health equity, department faculty champion for diversity, and department diversity activities; and the percentage of URiM students choosing family medicine residencies. Survey response rate was 49%. Two factors had a positive relationship with the percentage of graduating students who were URiM choosing family medicine residencies: having a higher percentage of faculty who were URiM (r=0.33, P=.004) and having a higher percentage of preceptors who are URiM (rs=.386, P=.001). We found no such association for having cases addressing health equity, offering preclinical electives, departments with a faculty champion for diversity, clerkship director race, or a department's diversity activities. The presence of teaching faculty and community preceptors from URiM backgrounds is correlated with the rate at which students who are URiM choose family medicine. People, rather than activities, seem to influence the career choices of students from URiM backgrounds.

The Opinions of Family Medicine Residents about Education and Working Conditions in Turkey

Objective: In residency education, the educational environment interacts with each component of the training. This study is intended to assess the perceptions of family medicine residents about the educational and working environments from their point of view and to reveal their problems and expectations. 
 Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, nationwide 434 family medicine residents’ opinions about their educational environment were collected using a survey prepared by the researchers.
 Results: The mean age of the residents was 29.26±4.31 years. Women constituted 70.5% (n=306) of participants and 53.7% (n=233) chose family medicine career due to its working conditions. The rate of those who stated that there were no educational family health centers was 57.1% (n=248). More than half (67.5%; n=293) were satisfied with the department that they are getting education. Institutional assessment score (IAS) of those who chose family medicine for working conditions and obligations was lower than the participants who chose it because of their love and interest (p

MEDICAL STUDENTS’ CAREER CHOICE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS FAMILY MEDICINE

In order to provide high quality primary health care system, qualified family doctors are needed. An extremely low number of properly qualified family physicians is a worldwide problem. Countries are using various strategies in order to solve this problem, for instance, they are encouraging medical students to choose family medicine as a profession. Despite these attempts, family medicine still struggles with a lack of interest, while the determination to choose a special career is increasing. According to studies, a very small number of undergraduate medical students chose family medicine as a profession. The decision to become a family doctor is influenced by the following characteristics: age, sex, family status, rural life. Studies show that students who choose family medicine are more likely to be socially oriented, instead of seeking leadership opportunities, they have a strong desire to help people and have an opportunity to take a residency in an easy way and obtain a doctor's certificate in a relatively short period of time. Students who choose the doctor’s profession are influenced by the following factors: prestige, intellectual level, payment method, income, researching opportunities, and faculty status, work-life balance. Compared to family doctors, specialists can get quite high salary for performing “high-tech” procedures. The aim of the research is to assess the attitude of medical students towards the family doctor profession, and to find out the reasons that influence medical students’ choice. According to our study, In Georgia, like in many countries, the specialization of family medicine suffers from a lack of interest, which has a negative impact on the number of properly qualified family doctors. According to our study only 2.9% of students expressed interest in the family doctor profession. The decision to become a family doctor is influenced by numerous factors: a duration of residency, an ability to form long-term relationships with patients, the influence of family or community, an ability to solve multiple medical problems, the simplicity of medical practice, an opportunity to find a job, the advantage of working in rural areas, an ability to balance career and personal life. The family doctor profession is less popular in Georgia, which is mainly caused by society’s stereotypical attitudes. To popularize the family doctor profession, it is necessary to introduce effective methods of their financing, to develop a flexible model of family medicine residency education, which would be based on the improvement of a continuous, professional practice.

Attracting Medical Students to Family Medicine: An Historical View.

In 2018, the 25 x 2030 Collaborative was created. Its goal is to "increase the proportion of US medical school graduates who choose family medicine (FM) to 25% by 2030." The purpose of this study was to take a deeper look at the history of medical student interest in FM from the earliest data to the present, both after the match and those who are FM interns after July 1. We used publicly available match data, primarily from the National Resident Matching Program website, a series of articles published for nearly 30 years in Family Medicine on match results, and the American Academy of Family Physicians website. The total number of FM residents is growing (4,493 matched in 2021). After the managed care era in the mid-1990s, there was a collapse in interest among allopathic graduates that bottomed out at 6.8% graduates matching in FM by 2009; this rate has only slowly increased to 8.1% in 2021. Interest has been essentially flat for the last 10 years, and is lower than the percentage match rate prior to the managed care era (9.9% to 14.0%). There was more variability among osteopathic students, but interest has never been greater than 23%. Including the allopathic and osteopathic students who join FM residencies after the match does not appreciably alter these results. The 25 x 30 Collaborative will likely fail to reach its goal.

\u201cAt the mercy of some of the regulations\u201d: the impact of the residency match and return of service requirement on the early-career decisions of international medical graduates in Canada

BackgroundReturn-of-service (ROS) agreements require international medical graduates (IMGs) who accept medical residency positions in Canada to practice in specified geographic areas following completion of training. However, few studies have examined how ROS agreements influence career decisions. We examined IMG resident and early-career family physicians’ perceptions of the residency matching process, ROS requirements, and how these factors shaped their early career decisions.MethodsAs part of a larger project, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with early-career family physicians and family medicine residents in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. We asked participants about their actual or intended practice characteristics (e.g., payment model, practice location) and factors shaping actual or intended practice (e.g., personal/professional influences, training experiences, policy environments). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a thematic analysis approach was employed to identify recurring patterns and themes.ResultsFor this study, we examined interview data from nine residents and 15 early-career physicians with ROS agreements. We identified three themes: IMGs strategically chose family medicine to increase the likelihood of obtaining a residency position; ROS agreements limited career choices; and ROS agreements delayed preferred practice choice (e.g., scope of practice and location) of an IMGs’ early-career practice.ConclusionsThe obligatory nature of ROS agreements influences IMG early-career choices, as they necessitate strategically tailoring practice intentions towards available residency positions. Existing analyses of IMGs’ early-career practice choices neglect to distinguish between ROS and practice choices made independently of ROS requirements. Further research is needed to understand how ROS influences longer term practice patterns of IMGs in Canada.

When it is time to decide: factors associated to the choice of a medical specialty.

After finishing their initial education, physicians can enter post-graduate training programs. In Chile, there are multiple medical specialties options. This review synthesizes the factors associated with the choice of specialty, according to international publications. Students coming from rural areas or small towns would tend to choose Family Medicine. Men prefer specialties such as Surgery. Having relatives in the medical profession, specializing in a specific field, also influence the choice. Concerning interests and preferences, these are linked to personal traits and some biological variables. The inclination towards clinical or surgical fields could be predicted. Academically, the curriculum, good learning experiences and teacher models favor choice, while the harassment suffered could contribute to avoidance. Besides, both prestige and economic prospects are influential factors in the choice and specialties such as Surgery are preferred. The choice of specialty must reach a balance between the students' interests and public health needs. Identifying these factors would allow a better understanding of the present shortfall (or surplus) in certain fields and contribute to the definition of policies and decision-making.

FMAQ-S: Development of a Short Form of the Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire

Identifying and training students who choose family medicine careers is essential to meeting primary care workforce needs in the United States. Medical students' positive attitudes toward family medicine are associated with students' choice of family medicine as a specialty. This study sought to refine a previously tested questionnaire assessing US medical students' attitudes toward family medicine by shortening the questionnaire to make it more useful in educational practice and research settings. We refined our existing 14-item questionnaire by item analysis and validation. We conducted item analysis using a graded response model approach after identifying the unidimensionality of the original scale. We selected items based on their item discrimination parameters and item information levels, and calculated the correlation between specialty choice and family medicine attitudes score to evaluate criterion validity. Exploratory factor analyses indicated the questionnaire is unidimensional. Among the original 14 items, 10 items had high item discrimination parameters and low standard error of measurement. These 10 items contribute the most to distinguishing individuals' differences in family medicine attitudes and were selected for inclusion in the short-form questionnaire (FMAQ-S). The point-biserial correlation between the short-form scale and students' choice of family medicine was 0.378, which provides supporting evidence for criterion validity. The FMAQ-S is a concise and validated measure for assessing medical student attitudes toward family medicine. This abbreviated questionnaire can be used by medical educators to identify students for specific programming or interventions intended to support family medicine specialty choice.

Family Medicine as a Future Specialty among Interns at Zagazig University Hospitals

Background: Family Medicine, a very important emerging specialty, is intended to provide continuing, comprehensive health care for individuals and families. Large numbers of family physicians are needed for the overall integrate health‑care system. Factors affecting the choice of this specialty were personal preferences, an interest in the field, and practical experience of the subject. Objectives: To assess attitude of interns toward Family Medicine as a future specialty, and to determine association between some personal factors and their attitudes. Methods: A cross sectional study on was conducted on (116) interns working at Zagazig university hospitals (from June to September 2019). All interns were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire to identify their sociodemographic data, future specialty and attitude towards Family Medicine as a future specialty. Results: About 9% of interns wanted to be family physicians and (43.1%) had positive attitude about Family Medicine. Most common reasons of not choosing it as a future specialty were lack of knowledge (55%), lower social respect (43.2%) and low financial gain (39.2%).There was significant relation between attitude and all of gender, marital status and their knowledge about Family Medicine. On multivariate analysis, male gender and lack of knowledge were significant independent risk factors for this negative attitude. Conclusion: Interns had a negative attitude towards Family Medicine. Lack of knowledge, lower social respect and lower financial gain were most common causes of not choosing Family Medicine as a future specialty.

House Officers' Choice of Family Medicine Specialty amid the Implementation of the New Universal Health Insurance Law.

BackgroundThe new Egyptian Universal Health Insurance Law is introduced through family-oriented primary health care. Increasing the number of recent graduates who specialized in family medicine is considered a national need to overcome family physicians’ shortage.AimTo explore the factors affecting the house officers’ choice of Family Medicine as a future career amid the implementation of the new Universal Health Insurance Law in Egypt.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study conducted on house officers during their training in Cairo university hospitals from the first of March 2020 to February 2021. The researchers offered an anonymous self-administered questionnaire to all house officers at the beginning of their 2-week family medicine training (1170 house officers).ResultsA total of 1052 completed the questionnaire (response rate 90%). Family medicine as a specialty was considered by 53.6% (n = 564) of participants, while only 23.4% (n = 246) of participants had an obvious intention to choose family medicine. Multivariate (adjusted) logistic regression model revealed that factors significantly associated with intention to choose family medicine were marital status, knowledge about governmental advantages for family medicine offered to the specialized recent graduates, and previously encountered with family practice as customers.ConclusionsThe choice of family medicine specialty is increasing among house officers. This could be attributed to the growing interest in family medicine in Egypt, especially after implementing the new insurance law’s first phase in several Egyptian governorates.

Patient Voice and Mission: Why Do Patients Choose Family Medicine and What Do They Value?

Known gaps exist between what patients value and institutions prioritize. We sought to incorporate patients’ reasons for valuing family medicine into a new Mission and Vision statement by deploying brief surveys to a convenience sample of patients. We conducted descriptive quantitative analyses of demographics and inductive content analysis of written responses. Patients returned 92 (20%) of 450 questionnaires. Responders were 63% female, mean age of 47 years. Patients noted distinguishing features of family medicine were (1) continuity of care, (2) all-encompassing care, and (3) trusted referrals. Some patients reported not knowing there was a distinction between family medicine and other primary care.

Elección de especialidad y actitud de médicos internos de pregrado hacia la Medicina Familiar

<p><span><strong>Objetivo:</strong> analizar la elección de especialidad y actitud de los médicos internos de pregrado (mip) hacia la Medicina Familiar (mf) después de cursar un nuevo modelo educativo con enfoque en el primer nivel de atención. <strong>Métodos:</strong> estudio transversal analítico realizado de diciembre de 2018 a febrero de 2019; participaron 141 mip del Hospital General Regional No.1 Vicente Guerrero del Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social. Posterior a un año de que se implementara una nueva modalidad de internado médico enfocado al primer nivel, en el que se incrementó el tiempo de rotación por Medicina Familiar de dos a cuatro meses, se aplicó el Cuestionario de Actitud hacia la Medicina Familiar (camf) que explora la actitud hacia la mf, opinión de la rotación y su elección como especialidad y factores asociados. Se realizó análisis univariado y multivariado. <strong>Resultados:</strong> 98.6% presentó buena actitud hacia la mf (n=139), 34.5% la eligió como posible opción de especialidad (n=38), solo 3.5% la eligió como primera opción (n=5); la causa principal para elegirla es que brinda atención integral (22.6%, n=32) y para no elegirla es porque no les gusta (18.4%, n=26). La nueva rotación fue percibida como buena por 48 % (n=54); mediante análisis de regresión logística se encontró que al alumno que le gustó la rotación o prácticas por consulta de Medicina Familiar tiene 6.7 veces la probabilidad de seleccionar Medicina Familiar como opción de especialidad (ic 95%: 1.45-31.2). <strong>Conclusiones:</strong> a un año de la implementación del nuevo modelo con enfoque al primer nivel, la mayoría de los mip tienen buena actitud hacia la mf, sin embargo, no representa su primera elección como especialidad; las cualidades de la especialidad son los principales motivos para elegirla, el tiempo de internado no influyó su elección.</span></p>

Intellectual stimulation in family medicine: an international qualitative study of student perceptions.

BackgroundGlobally, medical schools struggle to ensure there is a sufficient number of graduates choosing family medicine as a career to meet societal needs. While factors impacting career choice are complex, one possible disincentive to choosing family medicine is the perception that it is less intellectually stimulating than specialty care.AimThe study sought to elicit student views on intellectual stimulation in family medicine, and their understanding of academic family medicine.Design & settingThis is a qualitative focus group study of volunteer students from the University of Calgary, Canada, and Newcastle University, UK.MethodSix focus groups were conducted with 51 participants. The data were analysed thematically.ResultsStudents associated intellectual stimulation in family medicine with clinical practice. Intellectual stimulation was related to problem solving and the challenge of having to know a little about everything, along with clinical uncertainty and the need to be vigilant to avoid missing diagnoses. Student awareness of academic family medicine was limited, and students identified it with teaching rather than research.ConclusionPromoting intellectual stimulation in family medicine requires educators to highlight the breadth and variety of knowledge required in family medicine, as well as the need to manage clinical uncertainty and to be vigilant to avoid missing diagnoses. Exposure to academic family medicine could enhance students’ understanding and appreciation of the role of research in family medicine.

A Career Eulogy Reflective Exercise: A View into Early Professional Identity Formation

Beginning medical students have a very early idea of what their physician identity will be. Providing a brief structured opportunity to reflect on the end of their career can be an important first step in identity formation. A reflective exercise was used in the summer prior to beginning medical school as each class of students at a regional rural medical school began a summer prematriculation program from 2015-2019. Students wrote what they wished to be said about them at the end of their career using a “Career Eulogy.” Identifiers were removed and narratives were coded into recurring text clusters by the authors. The students, on an anonymous evaluation, strongly agreed that the exercise facilitated the accomplishment of the program goals. Reflections from 42 entering medical students indicated a preference to be remembered for compassion, passion, quality, and patient relationships. Men more frequently mentioned family and enjoying life, and women more frequently mentioned patient relationships. Rural students included quality and being a teacher of medical students more frequently, and those with a physician parent included passion and community more frequently. Those who later chose family medicine as a specialty more often included references to enjoying life and family. This reflective exercise provided useful insight into early professional identity formation among these medical students and served to encourage group discussion. It could be used with larger, more diverse groups to determine its value and clarify true differences among the demographic and specialty choice patterns. This exercise could also be used annually for each student, providing a longitudinal view of identity formation.

In Pursuit of Slowness

In Pursuit of Slowness

Perceptions of Final Year Medical Students about Family Medicine as A Career Choice in Pakistan

Background: Family medicine is a field in which complete and detailed set of healthcare services are provided to the patients and their families. In developed countries, freshly graduated students choose family medicine as a priority for their career. However, in Pakistan it is not the case. The present study is undertaken to determine the perceptions of final year medical students’ about Family Medicine as a viable career. Methods: A total number of 504 students participated in the study. This was a cross-sectional study. The study participants were in their final year of medical college. Data was collected using a preapproved questionnaire. Data was entered and analyzed via SPSS version 17 and Chi-Square test was used post-stratification. Results: Only 14.3% (n=72) medical students had heard about Family Medicine. Only 18% (n=92) would select family medicine as a profession. The most frequent rationale for choosing the field of Family Medicine was the variety of patients seen in general practice (55.4% n=51). Conclusion: There is a dire need to focus on increasing awareness about the field of family medicine among medical students. The students should be counseled on the advantages along with the disadvantages of choosing this field as a medical profession.