Medical students' perceptions and attitudes about family practice: A qualitative research synthesis
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública y MicrobiologíaPublisher
BioMed CentralDate
2012-08-27Citation
10.1186/1472-6920-12-81
BMC Medical Education 12 (2012): 81
ISSN
1472-6920DOI
10.1186/1472-6920-12-81Funded by
This project is funded with a grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain (PI070975). PAC is funded by a Miguel Servet contract by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CP09/00137).Editor's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-12-81Subjects
Attitudes; Family practice; Perceptions; Qualitative research; Review; Students, Medical; MedicinaRights
© 2012 Selva Olid et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Abstract
Background: During the last decade medical students from most Western countries have shown little interest in
family practice. Understanding the factors that influence medical students to choose family medicine is crucial.
Objective: To systematically review and synthesize published evidence about medical students’ attitudes and
perceptions towards family practice.
Methods: A qualitative systematic review. The literature search was undertaken in July 2010 in PubMed, EMBASE,
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Two authors independently selected the studies for their inclusion and assessed
their quality. The selected studies were thoroughly read. Key themes and categories were identified. A matrix was
created for allowing the comparison of each theme across studies.
Results: Ten studies were finally included. Seven broad themes were identified across them: 1) Scope and context
of practice was a broad theme comprising linked sub-themes: perception of a varied specialty, broad practice,
holistic perspective and flexibility that allows having a family; 2) Lower interest or intellectually less challenging:
treating common disease, repetitive, quasi administrative job; 3) Influence of role models, either positive and
negative, and society: negative comments from other professionals, peers and family; 4) Lower prestige; 5) Poor
remuneration; 6) Medical school influences, being important both the length and quality of the exposure; 7) Post
graduate training, where the shorter duration and the lower intensity were perceived as positive aspects. After
identifying these seven key themes, were also looked into patterns in the distribution of these themes among
studies.
Conclusions: Our qualitative review provides a comprehensive picture of medical students’ attitudes towards family
practice in the available literature. In general, although some students find family medicine appealing, it is regarded
as a career of low interest and prestige. More research is needed on the influence of role models, medical school
and post graduate training.
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Selva Olid, Anna
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Martín Zurro, Amando
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Jiménez Villa, Josep
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Hijar, Antonio Monreal
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Mundet Tudurí, Xavier
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Otero-Puime, Ángel
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Mas Dalmau, Gemma
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Alonso Coello, Pablo
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