Is Australian rural practice changing? Findings from the National Rural General Practice Study

The National Rural General Practice Study (NRGPS) was the first comprehensive national study covering rural and remote general practitioners throughout Australia. It was undertaken in 1996-1997 and drew on data from existing sources such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, together with a postal survey of general practitioners in rural and remote areas. There was a 75% response rate to the survey, which covered professional issues, personal and social issues, personal background, patient issues, recruitment and retention programs and changing health services. Overall, the study findings confirmed those of previous individual State-based studies in the early 1990s and showed that there had been some changes since those previous studies. In particular, access to continuing medical education has improved, the rural medical workforce appears to be ageing, the proportion of women rural doctors is increasing and the projected length of stay in rural practice is decreasing. Whereas in the early 1990s the projection for rural doctor numbers was continuing decline, the NRGPS projected overall numbers in rural practice as staying approximately the same over the next 5 years. In the light of these trends, the challenge is to implement targeted initiatives that improve the recruitment and retention of rural and remote general practitioners.