Geographical Origins of Medical Students: Impact on Preferred Practice Locations

In France, as in many countries, doctors are unevenly distributed across the territory. Measures have been implemented to attract and retain doctors in underserved areas through financial incentives or improvements in practice conditions. However, very few efforts have been focused on doctor training. Using original data on medical students in their 6th year of medicine, we first investigate the influence of geographical background on the choice of specialty type made at the end of the 6th year of medical studies. Then, by considering the chosen specialty type, we examine the preferences of medical students for their practice location area. We find that medical students from rural areas are more likely to choose general medicine. Compared to medical students from big cities, they also have a higher probability of expressing a preference for rural areas when selecting general medicine and suburban areas when choosing primary and secondary care specialties. Regardless of the chosen specialty, Medical students from rural areas are less likely to want to practice in urban areas compared to those from large cities. Policy simulations indicate that increasing the proportion of students with a rural background results in a higher percentage of students choosing general medicine and expressing a desire to practice in rural areas.