A follow-up study of residents in internal-medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology training programs in Massachusetts. Implications for the supply of primary-care physicians.

A questionnaire survey of physicians who had been residents in internal medicine, pediatrics or obstetrics-gynecology in Massachusetts during the years 1967-1972 was undertaken to determine that specialties they now practice and the extent to which they deliver primary care. Over 600 physicians (74 per cent) responded. Devoting more than half their practice to a primary-care specialty were only 28 per cent of the former residents in internal medicine as compared with 56 per cent of those in pediatrics and 74 per cent of those in obstetrics-gynecology. For each group the fraction of full-time equivalent primary-care physicians produced was 0.27, 0.42 and 0.39 for the internal-medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology programs respectively. These findings indicate that, although Massachusetts is meeting the requirements of PL 94-484 concerning the percentage of residency positions in the primary-care specialties, such compliance does not guarantee an adequate future supply of primary-care practioners.