A study of burnout among 67 residents in four programs found little relationship between burnout scores and situational and background factors, but numerous relationships were found among personality measures, burnout scores, and measures of regret about career choice, indicating the importance of interpersonal skills and comfort in mitigating…

A combined B.S.-M.D. program designed to provide family practitioners to northwest Pennsylvania is described. The impact of the program on the region goes beyond the number of physicians supplied. Gannon University attracts high-quality students, and Erie hospitals benefit from affiliation with the medical school at Hahnemann University.…

An observer discusses factors in the choice of medicine as a career, trends in medical school enrollment and student characteristics, problems posed for medicine by those factors and trends, and their sources and solutions in current medical education. (MSE)

The processes that socialize M.D.s and Ph.D.s into academic roles in a medical school and the factors affecting their retention and attrition are reported, based on data from 81 percent (350) of the regular faculty of a midwestern university medical school. (LBH)

Data are presented to illustrate the utility of a systematic evaluation model when applied in a realistic test situation (an operational program for minority students). Several advantages of using this model are discussed. (LBH)

Students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine were surveyed using an inventory of problems and concerns relating to their personal and academic lives. The survey revealed that among chief student concerns are a lack of personal freedom, excessive academic pressures, and feelings of dehumanization. (Editor/LBH)

Few, if any, of the federal policy and funding decisions in the field of physician career development have been based on the results of empirical research, partly because research has had little practical knowledge to offer policy makers. Examples are cited and implications discussed. (LBH)

Sixty-eight graduating residents were interviewed about their practice choice decision-making. The process commonly follows this sequence: acknowledging and undertaking the choice task, defining personal, professional, and family issues; establishing reward priorities; determining professional presentation; inquiring about practice opportunities;…

Information taken from the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfile on career paths of all physicians who began an initial U.S. residency in 1968 is presented. Data, presented separately for men and women residents, are included for licensure and certification, major professional activities, specialty choices, and location decisions.…

This report focuses on the aspirations of medical students in various universities in Nigeria and on the wider implications of their currently expressed career goals for the delivery of health care in the country. (LBH)

The Fishbein Model of attitude formation was used as a framework for developing a questionnaire to measure students' attitudes toward a career in family practice and the social support students perceived they had for that career. Both the attitude and social support scales had excellent psychometric characteristics. (Author/MLW)

In a study of 1,195 medical students, those from medical families were insignificantly different from their classmates on premedical scholastic achievement and admission test scores, but were slightly younger and attended more prestigious undergraduate colleges. Academic and clinical performance was equivalent but specialty-choice differences were…

This study represents a preliminary effort toward the ultimate goal of identifying some of the major determinants of final career plans of residents in internal medicine. Initial career goal statements indicating future subspecialization are found to be important but the incidence of goal reversal is high. (LBH)

The relationship of career choice to academic performance is examined by using the National Board of Medical Examiners examinations as the measure of academic performance. It was hypothesized that the examination subtest scores of students selecting various specialty residency programs would demonstrate profiles that were unique for each specialty…

A study of factors affecting specialty choice before residency shows clerkship and role models to be most beneficial. Student experiences in the first three years of medical school were most detrimental, although most students select specialties in the third and fourth years. Implications for medical school policy are discussed. (MSE)