Career advancement a strong incentive for medicos to ’go rural’

The shortage of medical practitioners in regional rural and remote areas of Australia continues despite government initiatives. A new report identifies professional advantages stemming from rural practice as a strong motivator for medical students to 'go rural'. The report Understanding the decision to relocate rural amongst Australian trained urban medical students and junior doctors , was written by Associate Professor Maria Zadoroznyj and Professor Bill Martin from The University of Queensland's Institute for Social Science Research along with Associate Professor Wendy Brodribb from the university's School of Medicine. This research is the first qualitative evaluation of the rural experiences of a broad range of urban-based Australian junior doctors. It was commissioned by Rural Health Workforce Australia, the peak body for the state and territory rural workforce agencies. The researchers ed 25 medical students and 41 junior doctors from Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne in an effort to go beyond previous work which focussed on those who had already opted to "go rural". "In conducting this study, we wanted to focus more on what hindered urban-based students and junior doctors from choosing rural careers, how these decisions are made and what needs to change to encourage their greater participation in rural practice," said Professor Zadoroznyj.