THE INTEREST IN PRIMARY CARE DURING MEDICAL COURSE AS A MAIN CAREER CHOICE FACTOR: LET’S ENCOURAGE OUR STUDENTS!

Introduction/Objectives: The specialty choice and its influencing factors have been investigated worldwide. Despite of an increasing demand, reducing preference for general practice by the undergraduate students is a growing challenge. The objective of this study was to know the career choice factors, which would be used to propose changes in the medical school curricula, hoping to better match the population needs. Methods: A population of 277 residents admitted at four Brazilian public medical schools of Minas Gerais answered a questionnaire containing questions on personal, familial and socioeconomic factors potentially related to specialty choices. The medical specialties were divided in four groups (Primary Care, Clinical, Surgery and “Others”, the last including a miscellaneous group). Factors associated with choice of Primary Care practice were evaluated with OR and 95% CI in bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results/Conclusion: The questionnaire was answered by 188 residents (67.9%). The main influencing factor to any specialty choice was the "controllable" lifestyle and, specifically to Primary Care choice, was the personal interest and experiences on this area during graduation. (36.6%), increasing 7.3 times the chance to choose a specialty in this area by multivariate analysis (p