%0 Journal Article
%T Does the instructional quality of community-based clinical clerkships influence students' career preferences?
%A Masanobu Okayama
%A Eiji Kajii
%J International Journal of Medical Education
%D 2011
%I IJME
%R 10.5116/ijme.4e4a.d171
%X Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the association between student evaluation of their community-based clinical clerkship, their attitudes towards community health care and their career preferences. Methods: Self-administered pre- and post-questionnaire surveys were given to 693 fifth-year medical students participating in a two-week community-based clinical clerkship. Items measured were student preference for a career in primary care, student evaluation of the pro-gramme and student attitudes towards community health care. Results: Six hundred and forty-five students (93.1, 494 (76.6 male and 151 (23.4 female, completed the pre- and post-questionnaires. Student preference for a career in primary care (75.4 ¡À 20.2) increased after the clinical clerkship. By multivariate analysis, it was found that evaluation of the programme ('The programme was a worthwhile learning experience.' [multivariate regression coefficient: 0.143, p=0.014]) and their attitude ('I think practising community health care is worthwhile.' [0.367, p<0.001]) were strongly associated with the increase in preference for a career as a primary care physician after the clinical clerkship. Conclusions: Community-based education increases student preference for a future career as a primary care physician. Providing programmes of a high instructional quality further increases the chance of student physicians choosing a future career as a primary care physician.
%K primary care physician
%K career preference
%K community-based education
%K clinical clerkship
%K evaluation
%U http://www.ijme.net/archive/2/instructional-quality-and-career-preference.pdf