Synthesis of Recent Research on Medical Career Decisions: A Comparative Study of Physicians from Two Decades. Executive Summary and Final Report

摘要

The research project compared the career development patterns of two recent cohorts of physicians, participants in AIR's Project TALENT Longitudinal Study of the High School classes of 1960-63 and participants in the AAMC's Longitudinal Study of Medical School Graduates of 1960. These cohorts obtained their medical degrees approximately a decade apart. For each cohort, profiles of the personal characteristics and educational experiences of physicians in nine specialty groups and six sizes of practice community were drawn. Multivariate discriminant analyses were also conducted to determine the predictability and practice location choice. Results indicated that these career choices are predictable at a level considerably above chance for both cohorts. Some changes attributable to historical trends in medical selection and training were observed, but in general, the nature of the predictive relationships and the level of predictability were stable across cohorts. Results of the analyses were incorporated into a model of medical career decision-making.