Medical Student Summer Externship Program: Increasing the Number Matching in Family Practice

The number of US allopathic medical school graduates choosing a residency in family medicine has fallen from 13.4% in 1999 to 10.5% in 2002. Concern about declining numbers has led to the development of programs to provide medical students exposure to family medicine outside the clerkship. This paper reports on the development and longitudinal achievements of a clinical summer externship program 1993 to 1999.

The program description, practice settings, students' experiences, and department commitment are described. The purpose of this prospective study is to determine the percentage of family medicine summer externship participants (n=115) who match into family medicine.

During the six years studied, 49 (43.4%) of the participants matched into family medicine. Program participants viewed the program favorably, mean = 5.82 out of 6.

The Ohio State University Department of Family Medicine Medical Student Summer Externship Program demonstrates an effective educational experience that can increase and/or attain the proportion of students going into family medicine at the time of graduation.