Family practice specialty preference before and after a required clerkship.
Medical students' specialty preferences before and after participation in a required third-year family practice (FP) clerkship were compared to National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) results. Of 714 students studied, 18 (2.5%) changed their specialty preference away from FP during the clerkship and 66 (9%) changed their preference to FP. Sixty-nine (70%) of students who maintained a preference for FP pre- and post-clerkship matched in FP. Seventy-two students changed their specialty preference to FP and 19 changed their preference from FP during the clerkship; 32% of each of these groups matched in FP. Those with both pre- and post-clerkship preferences for other specialties matched in FP at a rate of only 4% but constituted 18% of everyone entering the specialty.
Campos-Outcalt
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Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson 85724.
Senf
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J
Pust
R
R
D000367:Age Factors; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003479:Curriculum; D003657:Decision Making; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine; D012737:Sex Factors; D013038:Specialization