Context: This study was undertaken with all 299 graduates of 12 consecutive classes (in 6 years) of a Brazilian medical school.
Purpose: To appraise the relationships of gender, early preference for a career, the experience of selective training (a form of elective clerkship) and student preceptorship (cross-year clinical tutoring by peers), with the career choices of graduates.
Method: Data were obtained at three points: at the beginning of medical studies, on career preference; at the end of medical studies, on selective traineeship and student preceptorship; and after graduation, on medical residency selected. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were done on the data of the graduates, grouped in terms of choice, or not, of frontline care specialties (internal medicine, pediatrics or obstetrics-gynecology).
Results: Findings are presented on 299 graduates, of whom 48.5% were female, and 53.8% preferred frontline care (FC) specialties at the beginning of the program. After graduation, 50.2% of the subjects chose FC specialties, among which two-thirds had kept their early preference for a specific specialty. Logistic regression analysis predicted 86.7% of the graduates' choices of FC specialties. Female gender, early preference, student preceptorship and, mostly, selective traineeship in the same broad area were significant factors.
Conclusion: In this study a strong association was found between selective traineeship and career choice of FC specialties in relation to three additional predictive factors. It also revealed student preceptorship as a factor of potential educational significance in the career decision process and as a matter of institutional concern.