Associations of the Informal Curriculum and Student Perceptions of Research With Family Medicine Career Choice

Background: The United States is facing a primary care physician shortage that is predicted to continue through the next decade. Determining why graduating medical students pursue a career in family medicine may inform efforts to help address this shortage. Methods: Medical student responses to the Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire (FMAQ), a 14-item validated questionnaire developed to assess student attitudes toward family medicine, were collected at 16 US medical schools and compared to each institution's proportion of graduates entering family medicine. We also analyzed subscales of the FMAQ, including attitudes toward family medicine lifestyle, research, importance, and shortages, with respect to student choice of family medicine. We used Pearson coefficients to calculate correlations.Results: Student attitudes toward family medicine careers were strongly correlated with an institution's proportion of graduates entering family medicine. Positive perceptions of family medicine research by students was the factor most strongly correlated with matching into a family medicine residency.Conclusion: Strengthening students' exposures and perceptions of family medicine and family medicine research may create viable opportunities for intervention by departments of family medicine and medical schools seeking to increase the number of graduates entering family medicine.