Vocational career paths of graduate entry medical students at Flinders University: a comparison of rural, remote and tertiary tracks.
OBJECTIVE
To provide data on the career trajectories of medical students from rural and remote workforce programs at Flinders University (the Parallel Rural Community Curriculum [PRCC] and the Northern Territory Clinical School [NTCS]), comparing them with students at the urban Flinders Medical Centre (FMC).


METHODS
Retrospective postal survey of all 150 graduates who undertook their Year 3 study in the period 1998-2000.


METHODS
Associations with career preference, assessed using univariate analyses and multivariate regression.


RESULTS
PRCC and NTCS graduates were more likely to choose rural career paths than graduates from FMC. The odds ratios were 19.1 (95% CI, 3.4-106.3; P < 0.001) and 4.3 (95% CI, 1.2-14.8; P = 0.026), respectively, after adjusting for age and rural background. There was no difference in the specialty choices of graduates of the three programs.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides evidence that clinical attachments designed to increase the rural and remote medical workforce do fulfil this objective.
Worley
Paul
P
School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia. paul.worley@flinders.edu.au
Martin
Anne
A
Prideaux
David
D
Woodman
Richard
R
Worley
Elizabeth
E
Lowe
Michael
M
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002321:Career Choice; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012423:Rural Health; D019035:Rural Health Services; D013337:Students, Medical; D014505:Urban Population; D014829:Vocational Education; D000078329:Workforce