While women are becoming an increasingly large percentage of the graduates of medical schools and of the generalist specialties in particular, they are much less likely to locate their practices in rural towns. If this trend were to persist, implications for access to care in rural areas would be substantial. This study involved a survey including questions about where the residents preferred to locate and how much they thought they would be practicing in the future. They study first examined national physician location patterns by medical school graduation cohort per gender differences. The second phase dealt with the production of female generalist physicians by medical schools. 1996 AMA data were examined.

Publications

• U.S. Medical Schools and the Rural Family Physician Gender Gap
  Journal Article
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 05/2000
  Women comprise increasing proportions of med school graduates. They tend to choose primary care but are less likely than men to choose rural practice. This study identified the U.S. medical schools most successful at producing rural family physicians and general practitioners of both genders.