Characteristics of second-year residents intending to become a primary care physicians / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

ABSTRACT

<b>Purpose</b> To examine the characteristics of second-year residents intending to become primary care physicians.<br><b>Methods</b> Using a self-administered questionnaire, we surveyed 7344 second-year residents in March, 2006. Of the 4167 responders (response rate 56.7%), the 3838 who answered that they intended to make a career choice of being clinical practitioners were taken as subjects for analysis. The odds ratios (OR) for the intention of being a primary care physician was calculated, together with the 95% confidence interval (95% CI), using logistic regression models (primary care physicians intended=1 vs. specialist intended=0) <br><b>Results</b> In total, 56% of the residents affirmed an interest in becoming primary care physicians. Multiple stepwise logistic models showed that residents intending to become primary care physicians planned to open their own clinics in the future (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.20-1.73), did not wish to obtain doctor of medical science (DMSc) degrees (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.07-1.55), and were more likely to choose internal medicine (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.07-1.94).<br><b>Conclusion</b> This study demonstrated that second-year residents who aimed to be primary care physicians were associated with more interest in opening private clinics for their future practice, preferably in the field of internal medicine, and with less interest in earning DMSc degrees.