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.

The Relationship Between Medical School Clerkships and Primary Care Specialty Choice: A Narrative Review.

Background And Objectives: There is a persistent shortage of primary care physicians in the United States. Medical schools can help meet societal primary care health needs by graduating more students who select family medicine and other primary care careers. The objective of this narrative review was to evaluate the relationship between clerkships and primary care specialty choice.

Medical School Characteristics, Policies, and Practices That Support Primary Care Specialty Choice: A Scoping Review of 5 Decades of Research.

Background And Objectives: The United States, like many other nations, faces a chronic shortage of primary care physicians. The purpose of this scoping review was to synthesize literature describing evidence-based institutional practices and interventions that support medical students' choices of primary care specialties, published in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Methods: We surveyed peer-reviewed, published research.

Influences of Medical School Admissions Practices on Primary Care Career Choice.

Background And Objectives: Medical schools should understand how to matriculate students who are more likely to enter primary care specialties and put admissions processes into place that achieve this result. However, there are no existing reviews that have systematically evaluated medical school admission practices and primary care specialty choice.

Methods: We conducted a narrative synthesis utilizing a systematic literature search to evaluate the effectiveness of medical school admission strategies designed to increase the percentage of graduates entering primary care specialties.

The Impact of Family Medicine Interest Groups and Student-Run Free Clinics on Primary Care Career Choice: A Narrative Synthesis.

Background And Objectives: Student-directed activities such as family medicine interest groups (FMIG) and student-run free clinics (SRFC) have been examined to discover their impact on entry into family medicine and primary care. The objective of this review was to synthesize study results to better incorporate and optimize these activities to support family medicine and primary care choice.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature search using PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL to identify all English-language research articles on FMIG and SRFC.

Institutional Characteristics Influencing Medical Student Selection of Primary Care Careers: A Narrative Review and Synthesis.

Background And Objectives: There is an ongoing shortage of primary care physicians in the United States. Medical schools are under pressure to address this threat to the nation's health by producing more primary care graduates, including family physicians. Our objective was to identify institutional characteristics associated with more medical students choosing primary care.

How Medical Education Pathways Influence Primary Care Specialty Choice.

Background And Objectives: Primary care is associated with improved patient health and reductions in health disparities. Consequently, the demand for primary care physicians is increasing. To meet this demand, medical schools have employed strategies to graduate students interested in primary care careers, including medical education pathways-structured, longitudinal experiences that are explicitly separate from the main curricular scope of the undergraduate medical education experience.

Deprescribing Inappropriate Proton Pump Inhibitors in a Family Medicine Residency Practice Office.

Introduction: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are often prescribed beyond their medically-approved duration of use. Long-term PPI use has been linked with numerous adverse effects and contributes to polypharmacy. This study sought to understand the effect of evidence-based education to resident and faculty physicians on deprescribing inappropriate PPIs.

Maternity Care Tracks at US Family Medicine Residency Programs.

Background And Objectives: The number of family physicians providing maternity care continues to decline, jeopardizing access to needed care for underserved populations. Accreditation changes in 2014 provided an opportunity to create family medicine residency maternity care tracks, providing comprehensive maternity care training only for interested residents. We examined the relationship between maternity care tracks and residents' educational experiences and postgraduate practice.

Exploring Preparation for the USMLE Step 2 Exams to Inform Best Practices.

Introduction: The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 will transition to a pass-fail format in 2022. This is likely to result in an increased focus on Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores. Thus, academic advisors must provide evidence-based guidance for preparing students.

FMAQ-S: Development of a Short Form of the Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire.

Introduction: Identifying and training students who choose family medicine careers is essential to meeting primary care workforce needs in the United States. Medical students' positive attitudes toward family medicine are associated with students' choice of family medicine as a specialty. This study sought to refine a previously tested questionnaire assessing US medical students' attitudes toward family medicine by shortening the questionnaire to make it more useful in educational practice and research settings.

Debt of Family Medicine Residents Continues to Grow.

The proportion of family medicine residents with ≥$250,000 in self-reported educational debt rose from 26% in 2014% to 47% in 2019. Such a rapid rise in high indebtedness is concerning, given known associations with resident distress. Previous research has also shown that highly indebted residents are less likely to choose academics, geriatrics, and service-oriented career paths.

Attitudes Toward Family Medicine Among Students Choosing Other Primary Care Specialties.

Background And Objectives: Little is known about how medical students choose between primary care specialties. We compared the attitudes toward family medicine of medical students intending to practice primary care but not family medicine (PCNFM), with students intending to practice family medicine (FM) and those intending nonprimary care (NPC) careers.

Methods: The Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire (FMAQ) was distributed to 2,644 fourth-year medical students at 16 medical schools in spring 2017.

Trends in Subspecialization: A Comparative Analysis of Rural and Urban Clinical Education.

Background And Objectives: Medical students who train in rural communities are often exposed to physicians practicing a broad scope of care, regardless of discipline. We examined how rural education is associated with practice specialization rates for students who match in primary care or general core specialties.

Methods: We linked practice and specialty data (2016 AMA Masterfile dataset), demographics (American Medical College Application Service data), and internal college data for 1974-2011 Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduates who received clinical education on either the Upper Peninsula (rural) or Grand Rapids (urban) campuses.

Student Interest in a Primary Care of Underserved Populations Course.

Background And Objectives: Medical students often lack curricular offerings specific to the care of underserved populations. We surveyed first- and second-year students to inform the development of a 4-week course on the skills necessary to care and advocate for underserved populations within a primary care context. This study assessed students' interest in the potential course, interest in primary care (PC) and underserved care (UC), and factors that would make the course more or less interesting to students.

Parental Leave Policies and Practices of US Family Medicine Residency Programs.

Background And Objectives: Adequate parental leave policies promote a supportive workplace environment. This study describes how US family medicine (FM) residency program parental leave policies compare to reported leave taken by residents and faculty.

Methods: This is a descriptive study of questions from a 2017 Council of Academic Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey of accredited US FM program directors.

The Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire: A Valid Instrument to Assess Student Attitudes Toward Family Medicine.

Background And Objectives: Medical student attitudes toward family medicine influence student likelihood of choosing family medicine and the US primary care physician workforce. We sought to refine and assess the validity of the Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire, an instrument that assesses student attitudes toward family medicine in US medical students.

Methods: A 24-item questionnaire, including items assessing students' attitudes toward family medicine's importance, family physician shortage, family medicine research, family systems, family physicians' expertise, and lifestyle, was offered to fourth-year students at 16 US medical schools.

How Much Do Family Medicine Residency Programs Spend on Resident Recruitment? A CERA Study.

Background And Objectives: Resident recruitment is one of the most important responsibilities of residency programs. Resource demands are among the principal reasons for calls for recruitment reform. The purpose of this study was to provide a national snapshot of estimated costs of recruitment among US family medicine programs.