House officers' attitude towards family medicine and its choice as a career in Egypt.
BACKGROUND
Family medicine (FM) specialty is new to Egyptian medical education and its choice as a career option is still unclear. This study aims to assess perceptions, expectations and level of information amongst house officers (HOs) in relation to FM and its choice as a future career.


METHODS
This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted during an orientation program implemented to HOs before joining work in primary health care. Data were collected using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire.


RESULTS
More than half of respondents considered FM to have an essential social function. The most influential factor on HOs' opinions regarding FM were their own experiences during the course of study (52.6%), the opinion of family physicians (43.8%). More than two fifths of HOs reported that training sessions in health centers would be useful and 29.5% stated that at least 25-50% of the total practical training in medical school should be dedicated to FM. Nearly half of HOs (48.2%) suggested that training should take place during the fourth year of medical school. Before orientation 15.8% of HOs mentioned that they will choose FM as a career, this increased to 50.4% after orientation. Rural residence and low grades in public health are the independent predictors of choosing FM as a career (OR = 1.9 and 1.7, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
FM is developing rapidly as a specialty. Frequent training programs directed to HOs may encourage them to consider FM as a career.
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt. ghadaelkhawaga@yahoo.com.
Ghada
G
Elkhawaga
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
Bernadette
B
Bernard
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
Abdel-Hady
AH
El-Gilany
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004534:Egypt; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
Career; Egypt; family medicine; house officers.