Recruiting and retaining a rural medical workforce: the value of active community participation

Overseas experience offers insights into providing sustainable health care for remote communities

In this issue of the MJA, Playford and colleagues report research which found that undergraduate rural clinical school immersion increases the likelihood that students who begin medical school intending to practise in rural areas will actually enter the rural medical workforce after graduation. The authors conclude that: “Rural background, rural intention and rural experience during medical school all need to be factored into programs for redressing deficits in rural workforce levels programs.”1 This report provides evidence that supports recent Australian government initiatives aimed at strengthening the education and training pathway to rural practice.2