Table 4.

Variance in Medical Student Perceptions of Specialist Work Life by Year in Medical School.^* (Negative statements italicized.)

		Year in Medical School (n)				P value
		1 (303)	2 (195)	3 (191)	4 (252)
Autonomy	“Formularies or prescription limits restrict the quality of care specialists provide.”	3.42	3.33	3.31	3.34	0.76
	Insurance requirements seldom conflict with specialists’ clinical judgment.”	2.06	2.17	2.14	2.34	0.02
Administration	“Specialists’ role in managing the business aspects of practice is not a burden to them.”	2.11	2.10	2.19	2.16	0.89
	“Specialists have too much administrative work to do.”	3.38	3.28	3.35	3.31	0.99
Work pace and schedule autonomy	“Specialists have control over their work schedule.”	3.38	3.19	3.38	3.37	1.00
	“Specialists do not feel harried by the pace of their work.”	2.38	2.45	2.44	2.49	0.49
Patient Relationships	“Time pressures keep specialists from developing good patient relationships.”	3.32	3.14	2.92	2.94	0.30
	“Specialists are overwhelmed by the needs of their patients.”	2.80	2.58	2.46	2.43	0.02
	“Patients have confidence in specialists.”	4.13	4.09	4.14	4.19	0.44
	“Specialists’ relationships with patients are adversarial.”	2.27	2.15	2.04	1.94	0.02

^*Numbers are mean responses to a 5-point Likert scale. 1: strongly disagree; 2: disagree; 3: unsure; 4: agree; 5: strongly agree