Career choices from medical school to practice: findings from a regional clinical education site.

Most studies of career choices are not longitudinal, or they maximally deal with only short periods of the career development process. The study on which this article is based examined changes in specialty preferences at three points: sophomore year of medical school, residency, and practice. Aggregate specialty preferences at each point, rats of preference consistency between each, and general patterns of career shifts were examined. The results indicated a fairly high (70 percent) rate of consistency in career choices designated as primary care and nonprimary care specialties over this time span. Although medical education programs probably do not in a strict sense lead to career choices, this high consistency rate may indicate that such programs can serve significantly to strengthen existing preferences throughout the medical career.