Table 2.

Appendix. Questionnaire assessing Factors Influencing Specialty Choice (FISC). People vary in the factors that influence their choice of specialty in medicine. Please rate each of the following factors as to the extent to which you think they factor into your choice of specialty:

	Not at all	Somewhat			Very strong influence
1. Specialty variety	1	2	3	4	5
2. Intellectual content or challenge	1	2	3	4	5
3. Independence	1	2	3	4	5
4. Working with patients	1	2	3	4	5
5. Comfortable lifestyle	1	2	3	4	5
6. Financial rewards	1	2	3	4	5
7. Job opportunities	1	2	3	4	5
8. Taking care of patients	1	2	3	4	5
9. Keeping options open	1	2	3	4	5
10. Prestige	1	2	3	4	5
11. Interaction with patients	1	2	3	4	5
12. Diversity of patient population	1	2	3	4	5
13. Holism, continuity & prevention	1	2	3	4	5
14. Establishing long term, in-depth relationships with patients	1	2	3	4	5

Coding for the Factors Influencing Specialty Choice (FISC): Patient centered: items 4,8,11,12,13,14; Career rewards: items 3,5,6,7,10; Intellectual aspects: items 1,2,9.