Entry of US medical school graduates into family medicine residencies: 2007-2008 And 3-year summary

From the assistant director (Dr McGaha) and director (Dr Pugno), Division of Medical Education; director, Division of Research and Information Services (Mr Schmittling); and manager, Student Interest, Division of Medical Education (Ms DeVilbiss), American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, Kan. Following a decade-long decline in the number of students choosing family medicine, results of the 2008 National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) demonstrate that this year more US seniors chose family medicine compared with the previous year.1 NRMP results also demonstrate medical students’ overall continued preference for subspecialties coupled with a decline in US students choosing pediatrics primary care, internal medicine primary care, and internal medicine-pediatrics combined programs. Many factors influence US medical student specialty choice, and the interrelationship of these factors is complex. Specific factors shown to influence student choice of family medicine include both individual student characteristics as well as educational and curricular elements. Based on findings of the University of Arizona’s 2000–2002 study, now commonly know as the Arizona Study,2 and the Student Interest Summit, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recognizes four clearly identified areas of focus that are associated with increased selection of family medicine. The AAFP and other family medicine organizations continue to develop interventions within the four areas of focus— role models, curriculum and education, admissions and pipeline, and communications and image.3 The AAFP supports the inclusion of a required third-year clerkship in family medicine as well as the presence of a strong department of family medicine on campus, since both are correlated with increased specialty selection of family medicine.4,5 While factors related to lifestyle and educational debt have not conclusively been found to have a direct impact on specialty choice,6-10 recent data show that these issues have become increasingly influential.11 Clearly, students are looking for a specialty that will provide a balance between a rewarding medical practice and family commitments. Growing evidence supports the This is the 27th report prepared by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) on the percentage of each US medical school’s graduates entering family medicine residency programs. Approximately 8.3% of the 16,300 graduates of US medical schools between July 2006 and June 2007 were first-year family medicine residents in 2007, compared with 8.5% in 2006 and 8.4% in 2005. Medical school graduates from publicly funded medical schools were more likely to be firstyear family medicine residents in October 2007 than were residents from privately funded schools, 10.0% compared with 5.6%. The West North Central and the Mountain regions reported the highest percentage of medical school graduates who were first-year residents in family medicine programs in October 2007 at 12.2% and 11.9%, respectively; the New England and Middle Atlantic regions reported the lowest percentages at 5.5% and 4.7%, respectively. Nearly half of the medical school graduates (46.5%) entering a family medicine residency program as first-year residents in October 2007 entered a program in the same state where they graduated from medical school. The percentages for each medical school have varied substantially from year to year since the AAFP began reporting this information. This article reports the average percentage for each medical school for the last 3 years. Also reported are the number and percentage of graduates from colleges of osteopathic medicine who entered Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited family medicine residency programs, based on estimates provided by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.