PRACTICE CHOICES OF GRADUATING FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENTS

OBJECTIVE To examine the types of practices family medicine residents chose during the first 2 years after residency; and how these choices have changed over a 15-year period. DESIGN Mailed survey. SETTING Area s served by graduates of the Queen's University family medicine reside ncy program. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred thirty (76%) of the 303 graduate s from 1977 to 1991 of the Queen's University family medicine residenc y program responded to the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Type o f practices residents entered immediately out of residency; whether th ey began full-time, part-time, locum tenens, or other type of practice ; length of time spent in the first practice situation; and proportion of residents who had settled into a full-time practice within 2 years of completing residency RESULTS Residents who graduated before 1985 w ere significantly more likely to go into full-time practice immediatel y out of residency (P=.0001). The earlier residents had graduated from the program, the more likely they were to go immediately into full-ti me practice. This finding was not affected hy residents' age, sex, siz e of community of origin, exposure to rural teaching sites, marital st atus, or how well prepared for practice they felt Residents graduating before 1985 were also more likely to be in full-time practice within 2 years of completing their residency program (P=.003). CONCLUSIONS Re cent family medicine residents did not enter full-time practice immedi ately out of residency as often as those who had graduated earlier. no r did they commit ro full-time practice within 2 pears of graduating a s often as residents graduating before 1985 did.