Background

Little is known regarding US medical students with close family relatives who are physicians. Family-related factors may influence students’ specialty decisions to enter primary care or practice among the underserved.

Methods

Self-administered questionnaires were sent to 960 third-year US medical students from 24 US allopathic medical schools in January 2011. We asked respondents whether or not they had a physician parent or grandparent. We also tested associations between physician relative status and demographics, educational factors and career intentions.

Results

Response rate was 61%(564/919). Among the respondents, 124 students (22.0%) responded that they had a physician relative. Students having a physician relative were less likely to intend to practice among the underserved and enter into a primary care specialty (all P-values< 0.05). Having a physician relative was negatively associated with intention to practice among the underserved (odds ratio, 0.37; 95% confidence interval, 0.16-0.87) in multivariate logistic estimation controlling for socio-demographics and educational factors.

Conclusion

Students who reported having a physician parent or grandparent were less likely to be reporting intentions to practice among the underserved. More studies are needed to identify whether physician relative status represents an important factor for future career trajectories or serve merely as a surrogate for other socioeconomic factors.