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Family Medicine
Choosing a Medical Specialty


Family
Medicine

ABOUT THIS SPECIALTY
FAMILY PRACTICE AT A GLANCE
Overview of the Specialty of Family Practice

Family practice physicians are trained to prevent, diagnose and treat a wide variety of ailments in patients of all ages. Although the scope and practice of family medicine is broad, it is a precise discipline, integrating a unique blend of biomedical, behavioral and social sciences. Family practice focuses on care within the context of the family on a continuing basis. Family physicians employ a diverse range of cognitive and procedural skills and coordinate care with other specialists when necessary. They receive training in surgery, psychiatry, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and geriatrics (Ref: #2).

Training Requirements for Family Practice

Training consists of a minimum of three years of postgraduate education in a ACGME-accredited training program. There are 463 family practice residency programs accredited by the ACGME for 2007/2008 offering nearly 2,800 categorical positions available to U.S. seniors.

Matching Program Information and Match Statistics for Family Practice

Family practice residency training programs participate in the NRMP. Match results through the NRMP and competitiveness information for family practice residency training positions are summarized on the right.

Subspecialty/Fellowship Training for Family Practice

Subspecialty/fellowship training following completion of a family practice residency training program is available in geriatric medicine and sports medicine. Detailed information about the scope of these subspecialty training programs, number of positions offered and length of training is available in the GMED. Further information can be obtained from the American Medical Association (AMA ) and the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access page (FREIDA ).

Career Information

FREIDA physcian workforce information for each specialty includes statistical information on the number of positions/programs for residency training, resident workhours, resident work environment and compensation, employment status upon completion of program and work environment for those entering practice in each specialty.

Access FREIDA
For summary statistics and physician workforce information, click on "Specialty Statistics."

Training
3 years of residency
Categorical positions available
These are minimum requirements. Some programs may have longer residencies.
Fellowships
Subspecialty Length
Geriatric Medicine
Sports Medicine
1 year
1 year
Lifestyle
Mean Salary $146,500
Median Salary $135,000
Average hours worked per week: 50.7
Source: AAMC

US MATCH STATISTICS

Competitiveness(*)

2008 : Low
2007 : Low
2006 : Low
Competitiveness is based on the percentage of U.S. seniors who match in each specialty.
2008
2007
2006
2005
# Categorical/ Advanced positions available for U.S. Seniors
2636
2603
2761
2761
% U.S. Seniors matched*
98
98
98
98
# Unfilled Categorical/ Advanced Positions
105
304
404
486
#Unmatched U.S. seniors
20
11
20
20

From the National Resident Matching Program data.

All residency matching programs do not currently provide their match results data in a uniform format. The statistics provided at this web site have been derived from currently available data provided by these residency matching programs, approximated to facilitate comparison across all specialties for US senior medical students . This is intended to provide an overview of the matching process , on a specialty-specific basis for US senior medical students, and should be viewed in this context.

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