| Major theme | Representative participant quotation |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate experience Curriculum/program Timing/scheduling Hidden curriculum | "It's like they so devalue the academics of family medicine that we don't even have an exam at the end of it. It's like there is no material to test you on in family medicine." (2002, FG1) |
| Exposure | "I think the fact that half of our class has switched what they want to do during the clinical years kind of speaks to the fact that clinical exposure is a strong factor in making that decision." (2002, FG 2) "I was ranking internal medicine all the way ... but on match day I wanted to do anesthesia, and I think that's because my last couple weeks of medical school clinical rotations was in anesthesia and I absolutely loved it and ... I wish I had done this earlier because I would have probably gone for it." (2002, FG 3) |
| Public perception and recruitment | "You know, it's a deep rooted problem within the public: are you going to be a specialist or just a family doctor, just a GP." (2006, FG 3) "After four years of working hard, you kind of want to feel like you're wanted." (2008, FG 1) |
| Teacher influence Feedback Encouragement Modelling/career trajectory | "I think the biggest thing in medical school that influences your decision ... is the feedback you get from people that you work with. ... You look at physicians and say who do I want to be like in 10 years? Do I want to be like him, who enjoys work and having a good time or like that person who's just cranky and nobody likes." (2002, FG 3) |
| Family/outside influences Partner influence | "Coming into med school, with or without a significant other, or meeting a significant other while you're here. And then you have to take into account where they're going with their life, and if you're going to have kids, and what your kids are going to do and where they're going to live and those kinds of things ... that's a big factor." (2007, FG 2) |
| Residency issues Training and duration Rotating internship CaRMS | "One of the things that we used to have [in Canada] is that rotating internship for the year, before we actually had to make a choice of a specialty. And that year ... you actually had real responsibilities. ... Everyone said that that year really helped define what they wanted to do with their careers." (2006, FG 2) "I think the other problem too is that you're applying to competitive programs. What if you don't get in? Will you be happy with that? So you're kind of required to pick a couple of things and you know you pick things that you really don't want to do but you just kind of pick ... it's pretty tough to decide right now." (2002, FG 5) |
| Personal philosophy Passion Self-assessment | "Don't worry about the money, and don't worry about how long it'll take to do it. At the end of the day you need to be happy with what you're doing. And that's what I went with." (2007, FG 2) |
Note: CaRMS = Canadian Resident Matching Service, FG = focus group, GP = general practitioner.