General practice prestige: understanding medical students’ perceptions – a repeated cross-sectional study

A global shortage of general practitioners (GPs) is partly due to the limited number of medical students interested in working in the field. Prestige is one of several factors influencing choice of medical specialty. This study examined medical students’ perceptions of the prestige attached to working in general practice and how their career intentions evolved at medical school. A repeated cross-sectional survey was conducted among students at the Medical University of Graz between 2018 and 2023. Data were collected at six time-points in every academic year. Prestige was assessed using items from a questionnaire developed to assess medical students’ attitudes towards general practice. Factor scores were calculated and compared between time-points and between changes in career aspirations. The number of students aspiring to become a GP increased at medical school (1.1% vs. 4.5%; p < 0.001), while the number of undecided students decreased (67.2% vs. 62.4%, p < 0.001). Students initially considered general practice to be more prestigious (0.47 ± 0.86) than later in their studies (0.23 ± 0.96; p < 0.001). Students uninterested in working in general practice rated prestige lower than interested students (0.19, 95%CI: 0.12–0.26 vs. 0.62, 95% CI 0.42–0.81; p = 0.002) and undecided students (0.35, 95% CI 0.32–0.39; p < 0.001). By the end of medical school, more students considered general practice to have a poor reputation relative to other specialties (p < 0.001), similar to political decision-makers (p < 0.001), but considered a high reputation among patients and society as a whole (p < 0.001). These findings highlight the need for positive educational experiences and stronger recognition of general practice within the medical community.