THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN STUDENT AND INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON MINORITY MEDICAL-STUDENT SPECIALTY CHOICE

This article investigates the possible effects of minority status, pre sence of a Minority Affairs Office or Student National Medical Associa tion (SNMA) Chapter, level of indebtedness, and number of years (4 to 5) to complete medical school on specialty choice of minority medical students. The 5-year experiences of 20 medical schools in the southern region (including three in Puerto Rico) were examined via a questionn aire. Information was sought for African Americans, Afro-Caribbean, Me xican American, other minority, and nonminority students. Minority gra duates entered the specialties of internal medicine, pediatrics, and f amily medicine in far greater numbers than any other specialty. Also, the percentage of minorities who entered these fields was greater than the percentage of non-minorities. Conversely, minorities were signifi cantly underrepresented in the surgical subspecialties and radiology. Additional study is needed to further examine the medical school exper ience for indications of why the clustering in primary care specialtie s occurs. Moreover, while most schools had some kind of minority affai rs organization, few were active in the writing of the Dean's letter O ther suggestions to assure adequate minority representation across spe cialties include early exposure to the different specialties and subsp ecialties for minority students, a mentorship program with practicing physicians, and stronger recruitment of minorities into underrepresent ed specialties.