Are medical students ready to make career choices?
CMAJ 1997;156:1248
© 1997 Canadian Medical Association
With at least 2 years of postgraduate training plus certification in either family medicine or a specialty now being the new physician's principal routes to licensure, Canadian medical students must make career choices early in their training. Once a decision has been made, there are few opportunities to switch disciplines or re-enter postgraduate programs for further training.
After surveying graduates following the 1996 training program match, the Canadian Resident Matching Service reported that medical schools have gone to great lengths to prepare students to make career decisions during their final undergraduate year. Students are increasingly confident about making career choices; in 1993 only 70% said they were somewhat or well prepared, but by 1996 that had risen to 83%.
Although 87% of participants were matched to their first choice of discipline in the first round, approximately 20% said they would change or would consider changing their residency discipline if given the opportunity.
More than 88% of graduates were satisfied with the location of their match program; however, 15% indicated they would change the location of their training if they had the chance and another 15% were undecided. The top 3 choices for relocation were the University of British Columbia (31%), University of Toronto (17%) and University of Calgary (14%).
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This column was written by Lynda Buske, chief, physician resources information planning, CMA. Readers may send potential research topics to Patrick Sullivan (sullip@cma.ca; 613 731-8610 or 800 663-7336, ext. 2126; fax 613 523-0937).
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