Impact of a First-year Primary Care Experience on Residency Choice

• Published in: Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM Vol. 16; no. 12; pp. 860 - 863
• Main Authors: Grayson, Martha S, Klein, Martin, Franke, Kathleen B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Science Inc 01.12.2001
• Subjects: Brief Reports
• ISSN: 0884-8734; 1525-1497
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2001.10117.x

We designed a retrospective cohort study of first-year medical students to assess the impact of a community-based primary care course, Introduction to Primary Care (IPC), on residency choice. In the group that took IPC ( n = 282), 48.2% entered generalist residencies (internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, or medicine/pediatrics), compared to 38.2% in the group that wanted IPC ( n = 398) and 39.6% in the group that did not want IPC ( n = 245). Controlling for gender, students who took IPC had a 40% higher odds of selecting a generalist residency than those who wanted to take IPC (odds ratio [OR], 1.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 1.95). There was no difference between those who wanted IPC and those who did not (OR, 1.08; CI, 0.78 to 1.52). The community-based primary care experience was positively associated with students' selection of generalist residencies.