Journal article
Growing the pool of rural general practitioners
Ronan F O'Toole, Julian Wright
Rural and Remote Health | COLL MEDICINE & DENTISTRY JAMES COOK UNIV TOWNSVILLE | Published : 2020
DOI: 10.22605/RRH5769
Abstract
The critical importance of primary health care in maintaining a healthy population is well established internationally. Nevertheless, general practitioner care is not always easily accessible for some patients in Australia, particularly in rural regions. This is partly due to an insufficient number of medical graduates entering and being retained in the rural general practitioner workforce. Key elements of international and national programs designed to address this shortfall are discussed and include the use of entry requirements that preferentially select for applicants from a rural residence background, and immersion of medical students for a large share, or entire duration, of their trai..
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