Family medicine
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Research techniques reflect the approach of a discipline to the issues it faces. The annual North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) meeting has been a forum for family medicine research since 1973. A cross-sectional content analysis was conducted on all 1,295 printed NAPCRG abstracts from 1977 to 1987, classifying the research design and methods. ⋯ The major methods were surveys (34%), chart reviews (24%), or surveys combined with chart reviews (7%). One fourth of all abstracts were cross-sectional surveys. NAPCRG research designs and methods have not changed substantially during these 11 years.
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Over one third of U. S. medical school matriculants from the graduating class of 1983 had an original career interest in family practice, although there was a significant attrition by the time of medical school graduation. Perhaps of greater importance, however, was that students who entered medical school with an interest in family practice were almost three times as likely to choose family practice as a career than matriculants who were interested in other specialties (24.2% versus 8.4%, P less than .001).
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Medical Students who are deciding which specialty to enter sometimes do not choose the one they actually prefer. The purposes of this study were to compare specialty preferences of students with their choices, as well as to identify the factors on which decisions about entering family medicine are based. Of North Carolina's 429 third-year medical students, 59% responded in 1985 to a career preferences questionnaire that assessed the process of specialty decision making. ⋯ The frequency with which family practice was the career choice was affected little by differences between preferences and choices. Six factors were identified, with the curriculum as the major factor separating those who chose family practice from those who chose other primary care or non-primary care specialties. Based on these results, six suggestions are offered for medical school administrators and faculty desiring to increase the number of students selecting family practice.
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Violence against women is prevalent and is understood to produce adverse physical and psychological consequences for its victims. Victimized women frequently visit family physicians seeking relief from their distress; yet violence against women has not been identified by medical professionals as a relevant concern. This paper discusses health issues of women who are victims of violence, and encourages family physicians, who are in a position to have a powerful effect on this social problem, to reframe this phenomenon as a pertinent issue.
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Medical writing and publication are important in developing the scholarly base of family medicine, as well as being integral to an academic career. The author must choose the best format for the topic-research report, review article, book chapter, or other. The five steps in writing for publication are: 1) conceptualization of the topic and how best to present data; 2) organization of material; 3) composition; 4) revision of drafts; and 5) manuscript preparation and submission. The author must overcome the impediments to scholarly activity, such as lack of time, and resolve to ascribe a high priority to medical writing and publication.