Hospitals and medical schools as factors in the selection of location of practice.

A study analyzing the relationship between the state in which a physician practices and the location of residency training was conducted using as subjects 467 individuals who entered graduate medical training programs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. The study population included physicians who were graduated from medical schools between 1955 and 1969 and who entered a phase of graduate training (internship/residency) at one of Southwestern Medical School's affiliated teaching hospitals. Results of the study support the conclusions of an earlier report that stressed the influence of the location of residency training in retaining physicians in Texas. The statistical findings indicate that if all other factors are equal, additional residency positions filled by graduates of medical schools in the same state might aid in increasing the retention rate of medical practitioners there.