The case for a national intern allocation system in Australia

Bonning, Michael A; Fielke, Rick J; Mitchell, Rob

doi:10.5694/mja12.10234

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We argue that distinctions between intrastate and interstate applicants should be abolished; these applicants should be all considered of the highest and equal priority. Movement towards better coordination of intern recruitment, via the National Intern Allocation Working Party and a recently proposed online national intern allocation portal, 30 could be used to promote wider reforms of the system. If this did not occur, litigation could be considered by individuals or groups, as a mechanism of achieving change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging inequality and potential unconstitutionality — the case for reform of the intern priority system

Kevat

Lander

2013

Medical Journal of Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Internship selection is becoming more competitive due to substantial increases in numbers of medical graduates. Australian states operate a "priority system" for medical internship selection which discriminates against Australian interstate applicants. This discrimination arguably infringes section 117 of the Australian Constitution, which seeks to ensure that all citizens are treated equally and promotes national unity. The priority system should be reformed. It is inequitable and inconsistent with other aspects of medical training and regulation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging inequality and potential unconstitutionality — the case for reform of the intern priority system

Kevat

Lander

2013

Medical Journal of Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Victoria, internships are allocated via a statewide centralised process that occurs on a strict timeline [42,43]. The Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (PMCV) administers a matching service on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.…”

Section: Internship Matching Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring preference for, and uptake of, rural medical internships, a key issue for supporting rural training pathways

McGrail

O’Sullivan

Russell

et al. 2020

BMC Health Serv Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Improved medical care access for rural populations continues to be a major concern. There remains little published evidence about postgraduate rural pathways of junior doctors, which may have strong implications for a long-term skilled rural workforce. This exploratory study describes and compares preferences for, and uptake of, rural internships by new domestic and international graduates of Victorian medical schools during a period of rural internship position expansion. Methods We used administrative data of all new Victorian medical graduates’ location preference and accepted location of internship positions for 2013–16. Associations between preferred internship location and accepted internship position were explored including by rurality and year. Moreover, data were stratified between ‘domestic graduates’ (Australian and New Zealand citizens or permanent residents) and ‘international graduates’ (temporary residents who graduated from an Australian university). Results Across 2013–16, there were 4562 applicants who filled 3130 internship positions (46% oversubscribed). Domestic graduates filled most (69.7%, 457/656) rural internship positions, but significantly less than metropolitan positions (92.2%, p < 0.001). Only 20.1% (551/2737) included a rural location in their top five preferences, less than for international graduates (34.4%, p < 0.001). A greater proportion of rural compared with metropolitan interns accepted a position not in their top five preferences (36.1% versus 7.4%, p < 0.001). The proportion nominating a rural location in their preference list increased across 2013–2016. Conclusions The preferences for, and uptake of, rural internship positions by domestic graduates is sub-optimal for growing a rural workforce from local graduates. Current actions that have increased the number of rural positions are unlikely to be sufficient as a stand-alone intervention, thus regional areas must rely on international graduates. Strategies are needed to increase the attractiveness of rural internships for domestic students so that more graduates from rural undergraduate medical training are retained rurally. Further research could explore whether the uptake of rural internships is facilitated by aligning these positions with protected opportunities to continue vocational training in regionally-based or metropolitan fellowships. Increased understanding is needed of the factors impacting work location decisions of junior doctors, particularly those with some rural career intent.

show abstract

The case for a national intern allocation system in Australia

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Emerging inequality and potential unconstitutionality — the case for reform of the intern priority system

Emerging inequality and potential unconstitutionality — the case for reform of the intern priority system

Exploring preference for, and uptake of, rural medical internships, a key issue for supporting rural training pathways

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About