How is increased selectivity of medical school admissions associated with physicians’ career choice? A Japanese experience

Table 1 Descriptive statistics

	Total		Graduated from low-ranked medical schools		Graduated from high-ranked medical schools
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
	Mean	S.D.	Mean	S.D.	Mean	S.D.
Choice of clinical specialty
Internal medicine (a)	0.37	(0.48)	0.38	(0.49)	0.37	(0.48)	***
Surgery (a)	0.12	(0.32)	0.10	(0.30)	0.13	(0.33)	***
Rehabilitation (a)	0.09	(0.29)	0.09	(0.29)	0.09	(0.29)	***
Neurology (a)	0.03	(0.17)	0.03	(0.16)	0.03	(0.18)	***
Radiology and anesthesiology (a)	0.06	(0.24)	0.06	(0.24)	0.06	(0.25)	***
Emergency and perinatal care (a)	0.05	(0.22)	0.05	(0.22)	0.05	(0.22)	***
Other care (a)	0.27	(0.45)	0.29	(0.45)	0.27	(0.44)	***
Board certification (a)	0.81	(0.39)	0.77	(0.42)	0.84	(0.37)	***
Choice of municipality
Population density (population per square kilometer)	4404.75	(5316.80)	4324.86	(5269.84)	4464.57	(5350.96)	***
Income per capita (million JPY per capita)	3.46	(1.01)	3.40	(0.94)	3.50	(1.06)	**
Share of geriatric population (> 65 years old)	0.25	(0.04)	0.26	(0.04)	0.25	(0.04)	***
Share of pediatric population (< 15 years old)	0.12	(0.01)	0.12	(0.01)	0.12	(0.01)	***
Choice of medical facility
7:1 hospital (a)	0.41	(0.49)	0.36	(0.48)	0.45	(0.50)	***
DPC hospital (a)	0.58	(0.49)	0.52	(0.50)	0.64	(0.48)	***
Establishing own clinic (a)	0.22	(0.41)	0.27	(0.44)	0.18	(0.38)	***
Primary care facilities (a)	0.04	(0.19)	0.04	(0.19)	0.04	(0.19)
Basic characteristics
Age	45.75	(5.84)	45.76	(5.80)	45.75	(5.87)	***
Female (a)	0.23	(0.42)	0.28	(0.45)	0.19	(0.40)	***
Entrance year of medical school	1991.53	(6.15)	1991.69	(6.18)	1991.41	(6.13)	***
Graduated from private university (a)	0.35	(0.48)	0.56	(0.50)	0.19	(0.39)	***
Observation	122 990		52 662		70 328

Note: (a) Binary variables. Medical schools are classified into two groups according to their 1980 deviation value. If the 1980 deviation value was lower than the median value, graduates from these universities are categorized as “graduated from low-ranked medical schools.” Otherwise, they are categorized as “graduated from high-ranked medical schools.” Results on the t test for mean differences between “low-ranked medical schools” and “high-ranked medical schools” are reported in the rightmost columns. Abbreviations: 7:1 hospital hospital with a 7:1 basic reimbursement rate, DPC hospital hospital that adopts a diagnosis procedure combination/per-diem payment system, S.D. standard deviation. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, and *p < 0.1, respectively

ISSN: 1478-4491