We found that students who had lower university admission scores and who were less outgoing were less likely to complete the course. Students who were male, had a father in medicine and were more creative and abstract in their thinking and more conscientious and rule-bound were more likely to choose a specialist career. A rural background was found to be the most important predictor of both rural general and specialist practice.

Objective: To examine the 1996 outcomes of a sample of Western Australian rural doctors who in 1986 had indicated their intentions to stay in or leave rural practice. Design: Postal questionnaire survey in December 1996, semi‐structured interview and feedback by doctors on a draft of this article. Participants: 91 respondents from the 101 doctors who in 1986 had filled in a questionnaire on their intentions to stay in or leave rural practice. Main outcome measures: Proportion of doctors whose actions by 1996 were at variance with their intentions in 1986, and the reasons for their change of direction. Results: 49% (22/45) of doctors who intended to leave had stayed (“stayers”) and 24% (11/46) who intended to stay had left (“leavers”). Doctors' main concerns in 1986 were overwork, lack of locum relief, professional contact with colleagues, specialist backup in emergencies, downsizing of hospital facilities, continuing medical education, and income. By 1996 stayers had solved most of these professional problems and felt they were doing a special job which made a difference to their community. Conversely, more than half the leavers were unable to solve these problems and felt disempowered and dispirited. Their most potentially solvable problems were overwork, forced deskilling and conflict with other healthcare professionals. Conclusion: Professional satisfaction was the main reason for doctors staying in or leaving rural practice. Professionally dissatisfied rural doctors reach a critical phase which they have to surmount if they are going to stay. An examination of the positive experiences of the stayers points the way to retaining at least half the potential future leavers.

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Tennis elbow is due to a torque injury or sudden overstretching of tendons which insert into the epicondyles of the humerus. The predominant lesion is an enthesopathy--a pathological lesion at the insertion of tendon into bone. The most common site is at the lateral epicondyle and this is 3 times as frequent as at the medial epicondyle. Approximately 50% of tennis players can expect to get a tennis elbow at some time during their playing lifetime. In one-third of the players this will be severe enough to interfere with their tasks of daily living. The major unresolved question about the aetiology of tennis elbow is why it has its peak incidence between the ages of 40 and 50 years and why 90% of players then have no further recurrence. Making sense of the literature on the treatment of tennis elbow is difficult because there are few studies that have used the acceptable epidemiological techniques of the prospective randomised controlled trial or case-controlled study. Most papers are based on a collection of highly selected cases which represent the more intractable end of the tennis elbow spectrum and their reported results have been inconsistent. Tennis elbow is largely a self-limiting condition. The prime aim of treatment should be based on Hippocrates' first tenet of medicine--first do no harm. Therapy should start with the simple and conservative before progressing to the more complex and invasive therapies. It should be acceptable to the patient, cost-effective and where invasive therapy is recommended, the potential benefits should clearly outweigh the risks. The principles of therapy for tennis elbow are to relieve pain, microbleeding and inflammation, promote healing, rehabilitate the injured arm and try to prevent recurrence. The most effective modalities of treatment are found to be cryotherapy in the acute stage then nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and heat in its various modalities including ultrasound. This is combined with rest which is best defined as the absence of painful activity. Injection of a depot preparation of cortisone is effective although patient reports are not as flattering as those of doctors. There is no advantage and in fact considerable disadvantage in using more than 2 such injections. Therapies such as acupuncture and chiropractic have not been evaluated. Nevertheless they cause no harm, may result in good and should be tried before resorting to more invasive therapy. Rehabilitation should run parallel to treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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