FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SPECIALTY CHOICE OF THE PHYSICAL MEDICINE ANDREHABILITATION GRADUATING CLASS OF 1994 AND THE ENTERING CLASS OF 1995

To understand better how career choices are made by physiatrists, a 16 -item, 7-page questionnaire was sent to all 1994 graduating physical m edicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) resident physicians in the United St ates. Of the 343 senior residents, 202 completed the questionnaire for a response rate of 59%. The questionnaire focused on the following ar eas: timing of the decision to enter PM&R; and how the medical school curriculum, certain groups of people, and certain specific factors inf luenced their choices. There were 130 factors modeled after the Americ an Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual medical student quest ionnaire that the recipients were asked to grade on a numerical scale: 1 = unimportant to 5 = very important. Of the graduating residents, 6 0.1% (119/198) made the decision to enter PM&R in their 3rd or 4th yr of medical school, 13.1% (26/198) in the first 2 yr, and 11.1% (22/198 ) after starting another residency. The five factors ranked most impor tant in the decision were (mean rank score): sufficient time/flexibili ty for family obligations (4.60); opportunity to make a difference in peoples lives (4.57); interest in helping people (4.55); types of pati ent problems encountered (4.50); and consistency with personality (4.4 9). We also obtained the AAMC's 1993 annual data on medical students c hoosing PM&R. Their top five factors were the same as those listed by the graduating residents, but in a slightly different rank order. Prof iles have also been derived on those graduating PM&R residents who cho se an academic career (n = 68) v nonacademic (n = 133) and fellowship (n = 34) v nonfellowship (n = 163).