Women in rural general practice: the stresses and rewards.
OBJECTIVE
There is a shortage of general practitioners (GPs) in New Zealand rural areas, especially women GPs. An exploratory study was undertaken to ascertain why some women become rural GPs and to identify some of the significant stresses and rewards of rural practice for women.


METHODS
Qualitative interviews were carried out with fourteen rural women GPs from around the North Island during 1999.


RESULTS
Major issues identified from the interviews included on-call duty, locums, isolation, continuing medical education and the difficulty combining a family with the demands of rural practice.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings, recommendations are made to aid recruitment and retention of rural GPs, particularly women rural GPs.
Elley
R
R
rainadave@xtra.co.nz
D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D009520:New Zealand; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000523:psychology*; D012424:Rural Population; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*