Declining class size and the decline in graduates choosing family medicine

In light of the major concern about the marked decline in the numbers of graduates from U.S. medical schools who are entering family medicine, the authors analyzed the effect of declining class size on the numbers of graduates entering family medicine residencies. Data were analyzed from ten years of graduating classes (1981-1990) from the 81 medical schools graduating the most family physicians. The analysis confirmed that declining class size is related to the decline in the production of family physicians. In particular, the 31 schools with the largest declines in the numbers of graduates overall (from the early 1980s compared with the late 1980s and 1990) demonstrated as a group a large fall (nearly 25%) in the production of family physicians. The authors conclude that the large reductions in class size in many medical schools are associated with even larger reductions in the numbers of future family physicians being graduated from U.S. medical schools.