Career choices of young graduates: A need for more GP training

A survey of fourth year (first clinical year) medical students at the University of Western Australia in 1977 showed that 48% of them wanted to be general practitioners. When interviewed again as interns in 1980, the same group showed a 61% preference for general practice. In 1977, 57% of interns and junior RMOs had wished for a career in general practice. During the last five years the proportion of graduates entering the Family Medicine programme has reached as high as 68% in the third year after graduation. In the 25 years since the first medical graduates qualified in Perth the percentage entering general practice has climbed from 15 to 80; the percentage entering the specialties has declined from 85 to 20. This survey is a valuable tool in planning postgraduate training programmes.