Perceptions of medical students about family medicine in Ghana.

OBJECTIVES To determine the perceptions of medical students in Ghana about family medicine with regard to knowledge and relevance as well as specialty preferences. DESIGN A descriptive study. METHOD The study was conducted on first clinical year students of the University of Ghana Medical School (first group of students introduced to the specialty of family medicine) in July 2008, using structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The respondents' awareness of family medicine, their views on the relevance of family medicine and their specialty preferences. RESULTS Level of awareness of the specialty was high among the students (88.0%, [95% CI 80.2-93.6]). Information from friends and relations was the major source of awareness (29.5%, CI 20.2-40.3). Majority of the students perceived that family physicians are capable of providing total health care for 85-95% of their clients (54.4%, CI 44.1-64.5) and also reduce overall cost of health care (79.8%, CI 70.5-87.2). However, only 2.4% (CI 0.4-7.6) were considering postgraduate training in family medicine. The major factor for specialty choice was personal interest (75.6%, CI 65.9-83.6) and the main reason for not choosing family medicine was inadequate understanding of the specialty (79.3%, CI 69.5-87.0). CONCLUSION There is high level of awareness of family medicine among medical students in Ghana however very few students want to choose it as a specialty because of inadequate understanding of the specialty.