The Relative Importance of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education to the Practice Decisions and Attitudes of Young Family Physicians Practising in Ontario

Purpose - To explore the extent to which Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education ‘explain’ variance in the practice decisions and patient care attitudes of a cohort Method - Using data from a survey of all certificands of the College of Family Physicians who live in Ontario and qualified between 1989 and 1991 (response rate of family physicians. 70%). We selected a cohort of physicians who either graduated from an Ontario medical school or attended a family medicine residency program in Ontario. The survey, fielded in the fall of 1993, had sought information about route to practice and career path of the physicians, attitudes toward patient care and professional issues, professional job satisfaction and a profile of their practices. The analysis examined bivariate and multivariate associations between medical school, residency program and other physician descriptors and their practice choices and attitudes. Results - Over one-third of physicians studied graduated from the University of Toronto medical school with the other four Ontario medical schools contributing 10- 21% of the sample. Forty percent took their residency in Toronto, while 12-19% attended remaining four family medicine programs. Systematic differences were observed in the professional decisions and attitudes of these family physicians. Many were associated with the medical school or residency program which they attended. Conclusions - Medical schools’ and residency programs’ graduates differ from one another. The factors which are responsible for such difference (e.g., self-selection)