Careers in Family Medicine
This portion of our web site provides resources for medical students
who are interested in becoming family physicians. Our goal is for interested
students to thoughtfully consider the specialty of family practice using
the best (most accurate and unbiased) information available, and to personally
decide whether they want to pursue additional training in family practice.
After years of assisting students to select their specialty and residency,
we have the following suggestions:
Be selfish in choosing a medical specialty. Choose your specialty based
on what is important to you, and make sure you don't abdicate the selection
of your specialty to someone else- a parent, spouse, a respected role
model, or faculty at the medical school. You are the one who has to be
happy while practicing your specialty for the next 20-35 years.
Make sure you have accurate information about the "real world"
(not "the world according to Ninth Avenue") characteristics
of the specialty you plan to enter. Go out and spend time with someone
practicing that specialty in the setting you want to practice in (rural,
urban, suburban).
Investigate the need for additional physicians in that specialty. Be
cautious about hearsay and rumors about job availability. Do your best
to get the facts. Family physicians will always be in demand given the
numbers produced each year.
Influences on specialty choice (some over which you have control, some
which are not controllable):
- Early life experiences, particularly experiences with physicians who
were seen as a positive role model. For many of you, this is why you're
here.
- Personal experiences with illness.
- Clinical experiences or mentorship experiences during medical school.
- Your personality.
- The influence of your family and friends.
- Perceived prestige of a given medical specialty.
- Income expectations.
- Whether you like establishing long-term relationships with patients.
- Your ability to tolerate ambiguity vs. your need to know everything.
Most individuals who select family practice careers:
- Enjoy relating to, communicating with, and working with people and
families.
- Enjoy the variety of problems seen in a broad-based generalist specialty.
- Feel comfortable admitting, "I don't know everything about everything."
- Like to engage in problem-solving.
- Are creative and resourceful.
- Are willing to assume on-going responsibility for the care of their
patients.
- Describe themselves as flexible.
- Value their own family and friends and want to maintain a personal
life.