Factors Influencing Primary Care Career Choice of Japanese Medical Students Graduating in 2004

抄録

The selection of a primary care career by Japanese medical students is said to be increasing however there are no studies to support this belief.In order to fully understand the alleged increase in the number of medical students choosing primary care we believed that an examination of the factors influencing medical students' decision-making would be helpful.
1) We distributed questionnaires to two hundred ninety eight medical students in 2004 who would graduate in four months from three Japanese medical universities.
2) Questionnaires included demographic factors, career choice, important career choice factors, interest in community medicine, willingness to engage in community medicine, thinking community medicine is useful, and satisfaction with curricula.
3) There were significant associations between a primary care choice and social experience, lifestyle preference, interest in community medicine, willingness to engage in community medicine, and contact with primary care faculty.
4) Using a logistic regression model, lifestyle preference, male gender, social experience before entrance to a medical university and contact with primary care faculty were four significant factors.
5) It might be important to consider those factors in addition to curriculum reform to increase primary care career choice among Japanese medical students.