Background: Rural and remote areas of Australia are facing serious health workforce shortages. While a number of schemes have been developed to improve recruitment to and retention of the rural health workforce, they will be effective only if appropriately targeted. This study examines the factors that most encourage students attending rural clinical placements to work in rural Australia, and the regions they prefer.
Providing undergraduate and post-graduate rural training opportunities aids rural medical recruitment. Medical schools that provide rural educational placements, and the communities that host those placements, must give serious consideration to the structure and supports required to ensure both quality and enjoyment of rural placements. This paper presents tips for success gleaned from the results of experience in providing rural placement opportunities to medical students throughout their medical school experience.
BackgroundThe Australian dental workforce is ageing and current shortages have been predicted to worsen with the retirement of the growing contingent of older dentists. However, these predictions have been based on retirement trends of previous generations and little is known about the retirement intentions of today's older dentists.MethodsThe Dentist Retirement Intentions Survey was mailed to 768 NSW Australian Dental Association members aged over 50 and achieved a response rate of 20%. T-tests, ANOVAs and multivariate regression were used to analyse the data.ResultsOn average, participants intend to retire at the age of 66, although they would prefer to do so earlier (p < 0.05). Those intending to leave the workforce within the next 5 years represent 43%. The most common reasons dentists expect to retire are to have more leisure time, to be able to afford to stop working, and job stress or pressure.ConclusionsThe current generation of older dentists intends to retire later than their predecessors. Most wish to remain involved in dentistry in some capacity following retirement, and may assist in overcoming workforce shortages, either by practising part time or training dental students.
His current research interests include the treatment of challenging behavior and the development of play behavior in individuals with developmental disability.Sue Page is a second-grade teacher at Williams Elementary in Austin, Texas. She is certified in English as a second language and runs an inclusion classroom.
We describe the outcomes of a practice exchange in which an isolated general practitioner from a remote region traded work and living arrangements with a rural group practice GP.
An exchange can provide an opportunity for mid‐ and senior‐career professionals to refresh their outlook on their careers.
Involving the rural medical workforce in practice exchanges can enable the development of peer networks that can improve retention of isolated practitioners in Australia.
A fresh experience in a new setting can provide opportunities for practitioners to improve practice management and sharpen their clinical skills.
Uprooting families and preparing homes for unfamiliar visitors add stress to doctors and their families on exchange.
Patients in isolated practices could feel concerned that they may lose their doctor as a result of an exchange.
In this instance, the benefits far outweighed the difficulties.
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