Career differences between primary care and traditional trainees in internal medicine and pediatrics.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relation of Primary Care Residency Training to career choice, board certification, and practice location of internists and pediatricians.


METHODS
Cohort study with up to 8 years of follow-up.


METHODS
The United States.


METHODS
The 17,933 residents trained in all internal medicine (13,750) and pediatrics (4,183) residency programs between 1977 and 1982 were studied using information from the National Resident Matching Program, the AMA Physician Masterfile, the Area Resource File, and a telephone survey.


METHODS
Career choice, board certification, and practice location were studied in relation to five explanatory variables: type of residency (primary care or traditional track), gender, year of medical school graduation, educational orientation of the teaching hospital, and medical school prestige.


RESULTS
Graduates of primary care residency training programs chose careers in generalist primary care significantly more often than did graduates of traditional tracks in both internal medicine (72% compared with 54%) and pediatrics (88% and 81%, respectively; P less than 0.001 for both values). Board certification rates in internal medicine were statistically higher for graduates of primary care training programs (80%) than for graduates of traditional programs (76%, P = 0.002) but were not statistically significant for both groups of pediatric graduates. Graduates of primary care programs in pediatrics and internal medicine practiced in medically less served communities more often than did graduates of traditional programs.


CONCLUSIONS
Graduates of primary care residency training programs in internal medicine and pediatrics differ from graduates of traditional residency programs in career choices, board certification rates, and practice locations.
Noble
J
J
Boston University School of Medicine, MA.
Friedman
R H
RH
Starfield
B
B
Ash
A
A
Black
C
C
D002321:Career Choice; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D007396:Internship and Residency; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D013044:Specialty Boards; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce