title: Influences on specialty choice of family physician graduates of a tertiary care medical school.
abstract: A survey of 392 University of Michigan Medical School family physician alumni who graduated from medical school between 1950 and 1984 explored factors influencing respondent specialty choice and satisfaction with specialty choice. The strongest influences on specialty choice were the opportunity to treat a variety of illnesses, know patients personally, and work with people as opposed to things. The traditional medical school setting offered an environment of high-quality education, opportunities to see a variety of illnesses, and a model of tertiary, uncoordinated, discontinuous care that the respondents were determined not to replicate in their own medical careers. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents had no reservations about their decision to become family physicians, 74% said they would return to the University of Michigan if they were to enter medical school again, and 91% were greatly or moderately satisfied with their choice, indicating their satisfaction with their career choice and medical school.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Practice, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor 48109-0708.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Sheets
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: O'Shea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D008875:Middle Aged; D012577:Schools, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires