Factors perceived to influence rural career choice of urban background family physicians: A qualitative analysis.

Background: Urban background physicians are the main source of physician supply for rural communities across Canada. The purpose of this study was to describe factors that are perceived to influence rural career choice and practice location of urban background family medicine graduates.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative, descriptive study employing telephone interviews with 9 urban background family physicians practicing in rural locations.

Unexpected result of competency-based medical education: 9-year application trends to enhanced skills programs by family medicine residents at a single institution in Canada.

In Canada, family physicians may pursue extended training for added competence in areas such as Palliative Care or Emergency Medicine by applying to Enhanced Skills (ES) programmes. Despite the increasing popularity of ES programmes, there are no studies that examine trends in applications to ES programmes before and after the introduction of family medicine focused competency-based curricula at individual universities. Additionally, there is a scarcity of research examining factors common among applicants to ES programmes.