Antecedent and concurrent correlates of primary care practice

Abstract

Background: Understanding factors in specialty choice may increase the number of primary care practitioners. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to learn how primary and nonprimary care graduates differed on entry to medical school, during medical school, and as practitioners. Methods: We surveyed 1983 to 1987 graduates of 1 school about their careers, achievements, and values; 76% of the 430 responded. Of these, 117 were primary care practitioners. School records provided data on graduates’ admissions characteristics and student performance levels, and we analyzed data by descriptive statistics, Student's t test, and chi‐square test. Results: Primary and nonprimary care graduates were alike on entry to medical school. Their performance in medical school differed on 7 of 15 measures. Many practice patterns were similar, but whereas primary care practitioners stressed a clinician role oriented to people and community, nonprimary care practitioners emphasized more a scholarly role. Conclusion: Only differences in student performance foreshadowed a differentiating thrust in graduates’ roles as primary and nonprimary care practitioners.

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