Factors predictive of physician location.

The results of a survey of 182 graduates from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine between 1969 and 1973 are reported and discussed. The study was designed to determine which factors are predictive of practice location. Individual factors found to be related significantly to physician location were size of community where the physician grew up, size of community where the physician's spouse was raised, size of the physician's high school graduating class, number of contacts with other physicians, importance to the physician of continuing medical education opportunities, importance to the physician of professional growth opportunities, and importance of the availability of medical facilities. In addition, a multiple regression procedure was used to determine the viability of a number of independent variables in predicting physician location. From a total of 29 independent variables obtained from the survey instrument, nine factors were found to contribute significantly to the overall prediction of practice location.