The relationship between medical student career choice and a required third-year family practice clerkship.

Family practice as a career choice has been related to a number of educational variables, including the presence of a required clinical clerkship. In order to determine whether or not the timing of the required clinical clerkship was also related to family practice residency selection, a study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the required third-year family practice clerkship and family practice career choice. The results showed that students who attended medical schools with a required third-year clerkship in family practice were significantly more likely to enter family practice residency training (16.8%), than students who attended schools with a required fourth-year clerkship (14.5% P less than 0.05), or who attended a school with no required family practice clerkship (12.1%, P less than 0.001). These results support the recommendations of the STFM Task Force on Predoctoral Education that a required third-year clerkship in family practice is important in medical student career choice.