title: Increasing medical student interest in general practice in New Zealand: where to from here?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To meet increasing health demands, increasing the proportion of local graduates entering general practice is imperative.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students entering or exiting The University of Auckland's medical programme from 2006 to 2008 were invited to complete a tracking project survey. Levels of interest in general practice were determined along with characteristics associated with a greater or lesser interest in this career.
  
  
  RESULTS
  712 students replied--a response rate of 80%. At entry, 40% of students had a strong interest in a career in general practice, and at exit, 29% (P =0.003). A quarter at each time point had no interest. The proportion of domestic students born outside NZ or Australia was 160/376 (42.5%). There were significantly higher levels of interest in general practice among females, students born in NZ, and those from outside Auckland--especially rural origin. Flexibility in career was more important to students with a strong interest in general practice than those with no interest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Auckland medical students have levels of interest in general practice comparable with international data. Increasing this interest further may require admission of a greater proportion of students from those groups with higher interest levels, greater emphasis on the positive aspects of general practice, and on GPs as equals to other specialists.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Division, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. p.poole@auckland.ac.nz
authors.forename: Phillippa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poole
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bourke
authors.forename: Boaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shulruf
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D013337:Students, Medical