Increasing rural and minority physicians by understanding factors influencing medical students

Introduction: The goal of Healthy People 2020 is not only to eliminate health disparities, but also to achieve health equity and improve the health of all groups. Health equity is defined by Healthy People 2020 as “the attainment of the highest level of health for all people”. The new health care reform will inevitably increase the number of people with access to health care in America, but unless changes are made to address rural and minority physician shortages, equal access to quality care will not be achievable. It is important to understand factors that influence medical career decisions, in order to determine what program recommendations or policy changes could be made to influence rural and minority students to pursue medial careers. A physician workforce that reflects its patient population is culturally competent, thus, providing accessible, quality health care to patients. Methods: Medical students actively enrolled at Mercer University School of Medicine participated in an online survey based on the socio-ecological model to determine which factors influenced them to become physicians. Results: The influential factors with the highest frequencies were personal experience, parents, volunteer experiences, and self ability. Recommendations: Using programs which enable rural and minority groups to experience these influential factors will increase the interest of rural and minority groups in the medical profession, creating a health care workforce that provides better care because it more closely resembles the patient population.