Promoting Student Interest in Family Medicine Through National Conference Attendance

The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine (USDSSOM) had success in preparing students to enter family medicine. A sharp decline in students choosing the specialty became noticeable in 2004. In 2005, only 10.2% of the graduating class entered family medicine residency programs. To reverse this trend, the Department of Family Medicine partnered with the South Dakota Academy of Family Physicians (SDAFP) chapter that year to send students to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. This report examines the influence of national conference attendance on career choice. While many factors influence student choice, conference attendance served as an additive method for recruitment.

Internal departmental records on national conference attendance and subsequent National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) data were reviewed retrospectively, to determine if a correlation existed between conference attendance and choice of family medicine as a specialty. Chi-squared analysis was utilized to further examine this relationship.

The association between conference attendance and number of times attending is significant (χ² =6.78, P<.05). The recent data show that this intervention has resurrected student interest in family medicine, with USDSSOM now exceeding the NRMP average for family medicine.

A positive correlation exists between national conference attendance and medical student choice to enter family medicine residency programs. This intervention may be used by more medical schools wishing to promote family medicine in order to help meet our nation's primary care workforce needs.