Medical students, money, and career selection: students' perception of financial factors and remuneration in family medicine.
OBJECTIVE
Medical students have had a declining interest in family medicine as a career. Some studies have shown a small inverse relationship between debt levels and primary care, but it is unclear how students perceive remuneration in different specialties and how these perceptions might influence career choice.


METHODS
Medical students at one school were surveyed to understand their perceptions of physician remuneration and to gain insight into how these perceptions might affect career selection.


RESULTS
Response rate was 72% (560/781 students). Students' estimates of physician income were accurate throughout training, with the overall estimate for family medicine being lower than the actual income by only $10,656. The vast majority of students agreed with the statement that family physicians get paid too little (85%-89% of each class). The importance of payment as a factor in career decision making increased with higher debt and with advancing training.


CONCLUSIONS
Students are able to accurately predict income by specialty from an early stage of training and have a negative perception of income in family medicine. The perception that family physicians make too little money could be an important driver--or at least a modifier--in the lack of interest in family medicine.
Morra
Dante J
DJ
Department of Medicine, Wilson Centre for Research in Education, University of Toronto, and Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. dante.morra@utoronto.ca
Regehr
Glenn
G
Ginsburg
Shiphra
S
D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D004470:Economics, Medical; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D013038:Specialization; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult