Entry of US medical school graduates into family practice residencies: a national study.

No authoritative source has reported the percentage of each medical school's graduates who enter family practice residency programs. This study is the first of a series of reports from the American Academy of Family Physicians to report such data. Approximately 12.8 percent of the 15,667 graduates of United States medical schools between July 1980 and June 1981 were first-year residents in family practice in December 1981. The West North Central Region reported the highest percentage of medical school graduates who were first-year residents in family practice programs in December 1981; the New England and Middle Atlantic regions had the lowest percentages. Medical school graduates from publicly funded medical schools were twice as likely to be first-year residents in family practice in December 1981 as were graduates from privately funded medical schools.