General practice hits new low after falling down the list of med student preferences
General practice has gone from second to fourth in the rankings.
General practice has plummeted in the list of medical students’ first preferences, falling behind surgery and anaesthesia into fourth place.
While rural generalism is climbing, a top GP says this is not compensating for waning interest in general practice overall.
Of 2100 final-year medical students surveyed in 2023, just 10.5% nominated general practice as their preferred specialty, down from 13% in 2022.
This put it fourth behind surgery (12.6%), anaesthesia (13.4%) and internal medicine (16.7%), according to the annual survey by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand.
