Background and objectives: Primary care supports the global health care system. With an increased need for primary care physicians, medical schools must provide resources, role models, and opportunities to increase the number of medical students matching into primary care residencies. Some medical schools have developed primary care pipeline programs for students. The outcomes of one such program-the Primary Care Program (PCP)-at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of the University of Southern California (USC), an urban and private academic medical training center, are evaluated here.
Methods: We reviewed PCP student outcome data for students who graduated between 2015 and 2022. Data were gathered through surveys, residency match lists, and graduation records.
Results: Among PCP matriculates (n=134), 70% were female and 39% were underrepresented in medicine. Thirteen percent (n=16) of PCP graduates (n=122) completed a master of public health (MPH) degree. Among PCP graduates, 70% matched into primary care residencies compared to 36% of non-PCP graduates (P<.001). The most common residencies that PCP graduates matched into were family medicine (n=45, 37%), internal medicine (n=20, 16%), pediatrics (n=12, 10%), surgery (n=10, 8%), and psychiatry (n=9, 7%). A higher percentage of KSOM students matched into primary care residencies in the 8 graduation years after PCP was instituted (39%) than in the 8 graduation years before PCP was instituted (33%, P=.003).
Conclusions: The PCP data demonstrate the program's success at increasing the number of KSOM graduates matching into primary care residencies. The program provides a replicable training model.