A Post-Fellowship Support Framework for Rural Doctors: the Queensland experience

International workforce shortages have prompted many initiatives to recruit, train and retain rural doctors, including Australia's emerging National Rural Generalist Pathway. This project explored an important component of retention, rural doctors' post-Fellowship support needs, to develop and validate a post-Fellowship support framework. There has been considerable international attention on social accountability in medical education and how medical schools and other institutions can address the needs of the communities they serve. The recognition that rural and remote communities globally are underserved has prompted numerous educational approaches including rurally focused recruitment, selection, and training. Less attention has been paid to the support needs of rural doctors and how they can be retained in rural practice once recruited.

The project team reviewed international and Australian rural workforce and medical education literature and relevant policy documents to develop a set of guiding principles for a post-Fellowship support framework. The project utilised a mixed methods approach involving quantitative and qualitative methodologies; this paper focuses on the qualitative aspects. A range of rural doctors, administrators, and clinicians, working in primary and secondary care, across multiple rural locations in Queensland were invited to participate in interviews. Thematic analysis was undertaken.

The interviews validated ten interconnected guiding principles which enabled development of a grounded, contextually relevant approach to post-Fellowship support. This framework provides a blueprint for a retention strategy aiming to build a strong, skilled, and sustainable medical workforce capable of meeting community needs. Four themes emerged from the inductive thematic analysis: connecting primary and secondary care; valuing a rural career; supporting training and education; and valuing rural general practice.

The ten principles were designed in the real-world context of a mature Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway. The four themes will facilitate engagement and consultation with rural stakeholders to develop appropriate retention and support strategies.