Medical Graduates' Interest in Rural Careers Surges

• • 32% of respondents indicated a preference for a career working outside a metropolitan area

(table 25)

• • Students from a rural background expressed higher levels of desire to practice in rural or regional locations
    • 35 per cent of respondents from rural backgrounds had a preference to work in a large, medium or small rural town, or remote/very remote community versus 7% of respondents from a non-rural background (table 26)
  • Of those students undertaking a rural placement of more than a year, 34 per cent expressed a preference for practice in a large, medium or small rural town, or remote/very remote community (table 27)
    • The comparative figures are 23% for those where the duration was 6 to 12 months, 13% where it was up to 6 months, and 9% for those not undertaking a rural placement
  • Members of a university Rural Health Club were 4 times more likely to express a preference for a future practice outside a capital city.
• The overall numbers of those interested in a GP career remain steady:
  • With an increasing proportion of these preferencing Rural Generalism
  • The most highly ranked factors influencing preferred future specialty remain "alignment with personal values" and "atmosphere/culture typical of the discipline" (table 35)
• Students continue to express high levels of interest in their future career involving teaching (80%) and research (51%), although both of these continue to decrease (tables 28 and 29)
• Half of domestic students and over a quarter of international students want Indigenous health

as a part of their future medical career (table 30)

• 79% indicated they were 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with their medical program. The

proportion 'dissatisfied' or 'highly dissatisfied' was 9% (table 19)

• 81% 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' their medical degree was preparing them well to work as an intern, which is a slight increase from last year, and 5% saying they 'disagreed' or 'strongly

disagreed' (table 20)