Table 8 Typology category 5: studies that identify rural practitioners and investigate an association with rural medical education
From: A scoping review of the association between rural medical education and rural practice location
Author and location | Sample and method | Major findings | Discussion points/limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
Pathman et al. [71] USA | n = 456. Two postal surveys of primary care physicians who had moved to rural practices 1991 and 1996–1997. Considered where and when attended medical school and number of months in rural as a medical student. | 456 responded to both surveys (69%). More than half of those working rurally had participated in rural rotations as students. | Included only those who were working in rural areas. |
Rourke et al. [70] Canada | 507 rural family practitioners in Ontario Medical Association, compared with 505 randomly selected from practising in places with population >50 000. Postal survey. | Response of 484 (47.8%); 264 rural, 179 urban. Rural were 1.8× more likely to have spent ≥8 weeks in a rural setting during undergraduate medical training compared with urban. |  |
Rosenblatt et al. [72] USA | 1 991 practice locations of USA medical graduates 1976–1985. Practice location determined using American Medical Association masterfile, includes year and place of medical school and current practice location. | 12.6% were practising in rural areas. Much variation between medical schools: University of North Dakota highest (41.2%). 12 medical schools produced over 25% of graduates working rurally. Strongest association was between % of graduates working rurally and rurality of state where medical school is located. | Study focused on all medical graduates and then clustered programmes by rural state. No specific focus on location of education within the states. |
Rolfe et al. [73] Australia: University of Newcastle Medical School | n = 217. Linked graduate data from a survey with Faculty of Medicine admissions database. Cross-sectional survey of University of Newcastle medical graduates. | 226 (68.3%) response. After exclusions 162/217 (75%). 22% of post-interns working in rural. Those who chose a rural location for the general practice attachment were 3.02 (95% CI: 1.25–7.32) times more likely to be working in a rural area than those who chose an urban location. | Limitation students chose year 5 attachment. There was a significant relationship between a rural background and currently practising there. |