title: Validity of Medical Student Questionnaire Data in Prediction of Rural Practice Choice and Its Association With Service Orientation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The validity of medical student projection of, and predictors for, rural practice and the association of a measure of service orientation, projected practice accessibility to the indigent, were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  West Virginia (WV) medical student online pre- and postrural rotation questionnaire data were collected during the time period 2001-2009. Of the 1,517 respondent students, submissions by 1,271 met the time interval criterion for inclusion in analyses. Subsequent WV licensing data were available for 461 in 2013. These 2 databases were used to assess for validity of projection of rural practice, for predictors of rural practice, and for student projected accessibility of the future practice to indigent patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were statistically significant associations between both pre- and postrotation projections of rural practice and subsequent rural practice. The most significant independent predictors of rural practice were student rural background, reported primary care intent, prediction of rural practice and projection of greater accessibility of the future practice to indigent patients. For scoring of practice access, there were trends for higher scoring by rural students and rural practitioners, with greater pre-post increases for those with urban hometowns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the utility of medical student questionnaires for projections of numbers of future rural physicians. It suggests that students with a rural background, rural practice intent, or greater service orientation are more likely to enter rural practice. It also suggests that students, particularly those with urban hometowns, are influenced by rural rotation experiences in forecasting greater practice accessibility and in entering rural practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.|Physician Assistant Studies Program, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, West Virginia.
authors.forename: C Ken
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Shannon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Community and Rural Health, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011365:Professional Practice Location / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012423:Rural Health; D019035:Rural Health Services; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014903:West Virginia; D000078329:Workforce; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: access to care; medical education; rural; service; underserved