A Survey on Preferences and Factors Influencing the Decision of the Physicians Working in Public Centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences to enter Family Physician

Given the role of general practitioners in the family physician plan, it is important for policy makers and planners to know the factors influencing GP's decision to enter this plan. The purpose of this research is to extract preferences and factors affecting the decision of the physicians working in health– treatment centers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This was an applied descriptive survey. In this study, the preferences of general practitioners affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences have been extracted. For this purpose, a discrete choice experiment was used. Data were collected through a questionnaire structured by D-Efficiency criteria using SAS software, designed by SPSS software, and analyzed by STATA12. Higher net income, employment in the place of residence, presence of a specified quota for PhD degree in family medicine, presence of housing and transportation facilities and lower covered population are preferred by GPs working in public sectors affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Among these attributes, service place was found to be 2 to 6 times more important than others. The attribute of settlement period did not show to have a significant affect. The importance of some attributes showed to be different in different socioeconomic groups. Designing the program with regard to the demographic characteristics of GPs can increase the probability of their entry and successful implementation of the the project. Moreover, given the high importance of the location of employment attribute, it seems that very attractive incentives should be considered to encourage general practitioners in the public sector to practice in remote areas.