R. Kebede et al., THE ROLE OF CAREER PATHWAY BEFORE MEDICAL-SCHOOL IN GRADUATES CHOICE OF PRIMARY-CARE VERSUS OTHER SPECIALTY PRACTICES, Academic medicine, 70(8), 1995, pp. 723-725
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Medicine Miscellaneus","Education, Scientific Disciplines
Purpose. To analyze the difference, if any, in the choices of primary
care versus other specialty practices among graduates of the Albany Me
dical College who took one of three career pathways before entering me
dical school and who had entered primary care residencies. Method. Que
stionnaires were mailed in April 1992 to all 458 graduates from the cl
asses of 1980 through 1985 who had entered primary care residencies (i
.e., residencies in family practice, general internal medicine, genera
l pediatrics, or medicine-pediatrics). The graduates had followed one
of three pathways to admission: (1) after completion of four years of
college, (2) after completion of the six-year biomedical program in co
njunction with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and (3) aft
er having pursued a nonmedical career and being older than 25 years of
age. Logistics regression was the primary vehicle for analysis, defin
ing career choice as the dependent variable and using the independent
variables of sex, year of graduation, and pathway as well as their int
eractions for a saturated-model analysis. Results. A total of 318 grad
uates (69%) responded. Among the three pathways, there was no statisti
cally significant difference in the choices of primary care versus oth
er specialty practices. However, in the RPI and age-greater-than-25 gr
oups, there was a greater tendency for men to choose other specialties
. Conclusion. The three career pathways before medical school did not
appear to have a role in the choice of primary care versus other speci
alty practices among graduates who had entered primary care residencie
s. However, gender did influence this choice.