Background There is a shortage of general practitioners in Japan. With the revision of educational guidelines, general practice (GP) education has improved. However, the amount of education on GP in medical schools remains inconsistent. This study examined the relationship between medical students’ amount of GP-related education and their subsequent choice of GP majors.
Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a teaching hospital in Japan. Participants were residents in the hospital. The exposure comprised compulsory lectures and training time for community-based medicine in medical schools. The outcome included participants choosing GP majors after their initial 2-year junior residency.
Results Fifty-one participants were included in the final analysis. Of these, 14 majored in GP and 37 in non-GP after their initial 2-year junior residency. Of the participants who took GP lectures for 18 hours or more, 11 chose GP majors, and 18 chose non-GP majors (risk ratio, 2.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88–8.79). Of the participants who underwent training for 12 days or more, 10 chose GP majors, and 16 chose non-GP majors (risk ratio, 2.40; 95% CI, 0.87–6.68).
Conclusion The results do not support the association between the amount of compulsory undergraduate education for community-based medicine and the subsequent increase in the number of residents choosing GP majors in Japan. Educators would do well to explore different approaches, such as improving the quality of education to increase the number of GP residents. Further research is needed to reach more definitive conclusions.
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Background : Family medicine clerkship gives undergraduate medical students the opportunity to integrate knowledge and skills taught in class. Impression from clerkship experience and preceptor's role model allow medical students to consider family medicine as a career choice. This study investigated the effect of family medicine clerkship on the preference for family medicine as a career choice in third-year medical students.
Methods : From July through December of 1995, one hundred third-year medical students attended family medicine clerkship at Hanyang University Medical School (HUMS). They were divided into 20 groups of 4∼6 students. Seven half-days of clerkship teaching were provided in a private family medicine clinic and 2 half-days, in an university hospital family medicine clinic. The score of preference for family medicine was measured using the 10 cm visual analogue scale.
Results : The subjects' mean age was 24.1 years. Eighty eighty percent of students were males. The mean score of preference for family medicine as a career choice were 3.2 for pre-clerkship, 6.9 for post-clerkship, and 7.0 at the end of third-year semester exam, respectively. The group preference score was different among groups. Sex, age, hometown, parents' occupation, inhabitation type, religion, and lecture exam score were not related to the preference score. Eleven percent of students hoped to specialize in family medicine in the future. The students' main conception of family medicine were 'primary care', and 'comprehensive care', in descending order.
Conclusion : Third-year family medicine clinical clerkship improved the students' preference for family medicine as a career choice. A continuous program needs to be developed to render positive effect into the final stage of resident selection.
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