Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Bridging the Technology Divide in the COVID-19 Era: Using Virtual Outreach to Expose Middle and High School Students to Imaging Technology
Published on: September 28, 2022
Family medicine as a career option: how students' attitudes changed during medical school
Cheri Bethune1, Penelope A Hansen, Diana Deacon
1Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 300 Prince Philip Dr, St John's, NL A1B 3V6. cbethune@mun.ca
Objective:
To track and describe career choice decisions of medical students as they progressed through their undergraduate training.
Design:
Quantitative survey of each class at 5 points during their undergraduate experience. Each survey collected qualitative descriptors of students' current career choices.
Setting:
Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St John's.
Participants:
Undergraduate medical students in each year from 1999 to 2006.
Main Outcome Measures:
Number of students considering family medicine as a career option at 5 different data-collection points throughout the medical school curriculum.
Results:
Many students considered family medicine as a career choice early in their undergraduate experience. The number of students considering family medicine dropped significantly during the second year of the curriculum. This trend was consistent across all students surveyed. Although interest in family medicine as a career rebounded later in the curriculum, it never fully recovered.
Conclusion:
A large percentage of medical students considered family medicine as a career choice when they entered medical school. The percentage dropped significantly by the end of the second year of training. Attention should be directed toward understanding how the undergraduate medical curriculum in the first 2 years can protect and cultivate interest in family medicine as a career choice.
Related Concept Videos
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Patient-centered Care
Growth versus Fixed Mindset
Factors Affecting Illness
For instance, risk factors are connected to illness, disability,...
Methods of Documentation VI: Case Management Model
For example, a patient with a chronic illness...
Family Therapy
Strategic Family Therapy
Strategic family therapy emphasizes resolving communication barriers and improving problem-solving abilities...