Association Between Dedicated Rural Training Year and the Likelihood of Becoming a General Surgeon in a Small Town

Importance

Although projections of surgical workforce predict an increased need for general surgeons, especially in rural areas, graduates of residency programs increasingly enter urban or metropolitan specialty practice.

Objective

To determine whether fourth-year residents at a hospital in a rural setting were more likely to enter general surgery practice than a specialty.

Design, Setting, and Participants

In 2002, we...