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F W Hafferty

Publications and source records attributed to F W Hafferty.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
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Anticipating the future: a national survey of family practice residency directors.

The directors of family practice residencies were surveyed to measure the effect on family practice of the multitude of recent changes in medical organization and practice. The survey achieved a response rate of 80% (N = 306) and revealed that 90% of program directors were generally optimistic about the current status and future vigor of the specialty. Of the respondents, 72% expressed positive opinions regarding the effects of HMOs, and 93% perceived sufficient availability of practice opportunities. Due in large part to these perceptions, only 11% supported a proposal to combine family practice and internal medicine residencies. Teachers of family medicine are encouraged to pass along these measures of positive growth and optimism to medical students considering the specialty of family practice.

Career Mobility↗
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Medical students view family practice.

All students at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, School of Medicine responded to a 65-item questionnaire about their perceptions of changes facing medicine, the future of family practice, and career choices. Three different orientations toward family practice were identified--"stayers," "defectors," and "potential defectors." Students who had abandoned their original preference for family medicine (defectors) were compared with students who had maintained an interest in family medicine (stayers). Defectors anticipated a diminishing clinical role for future family practitioners, expressed doubt about the financial viability of smaller community based family practices, and explicitly linked concerns about their anticipated debt load to their changes in career preferences. This study also identified a subgroup of "potential defector" students (within the stayer cohort) who maintained an interest in family practice but evidenced concerns similar to the defector students. Implications of these findings for the future supply of primary care physicians for rural and traditionally underserved communities are discussed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗