BACKGROUND

In the Philippines, there are only around 6500 registered Family Medicine Physicians (www.pafp.org, 2023)1 which is only 4% of the registered physicians in the Philippines (www.prc.gov.ph, 2023)2. Factors that may help in increasing the graduates entering Family Medicine in the country have yet to be explored.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the factors that influenced the specialty choice of Family Medicine resident trainees

METHOD

This was an analytic cross-sectional study conducted among 136 Family Medicine Residents in the Philippines from June to August 2024 using a validated, investigator-made online questionnaire

RESULTS

The following are the most influential factors in entering FM specialty: importance of FM to Philippine Healthcare (1.14±.355), provision for continuity of care (1.19±.435), long-term bond with patients (1.16±.389), more influence in patients (1.21±.445), advantage in rural work (1.31±.553) and work-life balance (1.47±.631), plan to set up a rural clinic (1.31±.512), sparking of interest in the training after a community immersion (1.46±.543,) and opportunity to manage the family (1.32±.556).

Factors which included age (p .173 > .05), sex (p .847 > .05), civil status (p .833 > .05), rural background (p .347 > .05), parent-doctor (p .731 > .05), medical school (p .171 > .05) and place of internship (p .278 > .05) did not significantly influence the decision to enter family medicine.

CONCLUSION

This study identified several factors that significantly influenced, both positively and negatively, the decision to choose FM specialty in the Philippines. These findings represent a challenge for FM Physicians and medical schools, as these factors may be further studied and applied to increase the number of licensed physicians entering the specialty. Improvements may include emphasizing and enhancing basic medical education and foundation courses related to these topics.

Human ; Residency ; Internship And Residency