Since its inception in 2013, Family Medicine for America’s Health (FMAHealth) has made increasing the number of medical students who choose family medicine one of its top priorities. With that goal in mind, a group of resident and medical student leaders involved in FMAHealth spearheaded a study,(journals.stfm.org) published in the February issue of Family Medicine, to uncover new insights into the factors that influence student choice of family medicine and to quantify the differences between medical schools that graduate more versus those that produce fewer family physicians.
![[family medicine word cloud]](https://i0.wp.com/medialib.aafp.org/content/dam/AAFP/images/ann/2019-march/fm_word_cloud920.jpg.daijpg.840.jpg?w=616&ssl=1)
The study’s authors represented the Student and Resident Collaborative working on behalf of the FMAHealth Workforce Education & Development Tactic Team, the group responsible for garnering support from the eight family medicine organizations for what is now the America Needs More Family Doctors: 25 x 2030 collaborative. The goal of the 25 x 2030 collaborative is to increase the proportion of U.S. medical graduates entering family medicine residencies from the current 12.6 percent to 25 percent by the year 2030. ….more
From my experience and in talking to other physicians, I would say the most important thing we can do is to encourage–if not mandate–a family medicine practicum and/or residency for every doctor. I think the exposure to other family doctors who can illuminate the unique rewards of this type of practice–and to show that you can still pay back your med school loans without becoming a highly specialized, big-city doctor.