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. 2023 Feb 9;23(1):103.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04064-z.

Medical students' perception of general practice: a cross-sectional survey

D H J Pols  1 , A Kamps  2 , J Runhaar  2 , G Elshout  2 , K F van Halewijn  2 , Patrick J E Bindels  2 , K M Stegers-Jager  3
Affiliations

Medical students' perception of general practice: a cross-sectional survey

D H J Pols et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: An increase in the demand for general practitioners is expected in many countries, but only a minority of medical students consider a career in general practice. More detailed and up-to-date knowledge about medical student's perception of general practice would be helpful for efforts to encourage medical students to consider a career in general practice.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional single center survey among Dutch medical students to evaluate their perception of general practice at three different stages in their study: Ba1: first-year bachelor students; Ba3: third-year bachelor students; Ma3: third-year master students. The impact of different factors on their attitudes and perceptions was quantified. A multivariate logistic regression was performed with 'interest in general practice' as the outcome variable.

Results: The median age for Ba1 was 18 (IQR: 18-19) and 71.5% were female, for Ba3 the median age was 20 (IQR: 20-21) and 70.6% were female and for Ma3 the median age was 25 years (IQR: 24-26) and 73.3% were female. On average, 31.2% of the respondents had a migration background. The mean response rate for this study was 77.1%. Of the participating Ba1 students (n = 340) only 22.4% considered working as a GP after medical school; for Ba3 students (n = 231) this percentage was 33.8%, and for Ma3 students (n = 210) it was significantly higher at 70.5%; in the final multivariate model this corresponded to an odds ratio (OR) of 4.3 (95%-CI:2.6-6.9) compared to Ba1 students. The strongest predictor in the final model was the opinion that general practice provides a pleasant working environment (OR 9.5; 95%-CI: 6.2-14.5).

Conclusion: This study showed that multiple factors are significantly related to medical students' interest in general practice. Although students believed that general practice does not have a high status within the medical profession, they acknowledged the social importance and the pleasant working environment of general practice. Knowledge obtained in this study can be used when designing a medical curriculum or a general practice course.

Keywords: Career choice; General practice; Medical education; Medical students; Undergraduate.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflicting (financial) interests in relation to this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Perceptions about general practice. *Statistically significant P < 0.05: Ba1 vs Ma3; † Statistically significant P < 0.05: Ba3 vs Ma3. Ba1: first-year bachelor students; Ba3: third year bachelor students; Ma3: third-year master students who had finished their internship in general practice
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Self-reported factors influencing interest in general practice. *Statistically significant P < 0.05: Ba1 vs Ma3; † Statistically significant P < 0.05: Ba3 vs Ma3; ‡ Statistically significant P < 0.05: Ba1 vs Ba3. Ba1: first-year bachelor students; Ba3: third year bachelor students; Ma3: third-year master students who had finished their internship in general practice
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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