Physician personality types in physical medicine and rehabilitation as measured by the Myers-Briggs type indicator

Personality is one variable that correlates with specialty selection and practice type. To test our hypothesis that there has been a change in the personality type of those entering Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM and R) and to identify the academic potential of those in rehabilitation, we invited all residents and graduates of our training program to participate in a study of personality types within PM and R by completing a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Thirty residents and 48 graduates completed the questionnaire. A wide range of personality types were represented in our sample. The most common types are shared by a number of other people- oriented, primary care specialties. There was a statistically significant difference between residents and graduates on two of the four MBTI indexes, with graduates more introverted (P < 0.05) and judging (P < 0.001) than the present residents. Intuition, previously correlated with research and academic practice, was the dominant process for the majority of graduates and residents. This would confirm, according to type theory, the academic potential of both graduates and residents in our training program.