Characteristics of students preferring family practice/primary care careers

Survey data from a large national sample of junior medical students were used to make several comparisons between students indicating a preference for family practice and students selecting other specialties. Comparisons were also made between students on the basis of their interest in primary care vs non-primary care fields. On the basis of measures of premedical school academic performance (undergraduate grade point average and Medical College Admission Test scores), students choosing family practice and those indicating a general preference for primary care were similar to students choosing other specialties or nonprimary care fields. Subjectively, students selecting primary care ranked themselves lower than other students in medical school academic performance. Students with a career interest in primary care also gave greater weight to the desire to help people as a career motivation, were more oriented toward considering the sociopsychological context of patients' problems, and were more likely to perceive a need for change to improve health care in the United States.