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Factors associated with rural practice among Australian-trained general practitioners
Gillian A Laven1, Justin J Beilby, David Wilkinson
1Department of General Practice, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.
Objective:
To determine the factors associated with general practitioners' current practice location, with particular emphasis on rural location.
Design:
Observational, retrospective, case-control study using a self-administered questionnaire.
Setting:
Australian general practices in December 2000.
Participants:
2414 Australian-trained rural and urban GPs.
Main Outcome Measure:
Current urban or rural practice location.
Results:
For Australia as a whole, rural GPs were more likely to be male (odds ratio [OR], 1.42; 95% CI, 1.17-1.73), Australian-born (OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.55-2.45), and to report attending a rural primary school for "some" (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.69-2.89) or "all" (OR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.94-4.00) of their primary schooling. Rural GPs' partners or spouses were also more likely to report "some" (OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 2.07-3.66) or "all" (OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 2.02-4.05) rural primary schooling. A rural background in both GP and partner produced the highest likelihood of rural practice (OR, 6.28; 95% CI, 4.26-9.25). For individual jurisdictions, a trend towards more rural GPs being men was only significant in Tasmania. In all jurisdictions except Tasmania and the Northern Territory, rural GPs were more likely to be Australian-born.
Conclusions:
GPs' and their partners' rural background (residence and primary and secondary schooling) influences choice of practice location, with partners' background appearing to exert more influence.