eMJA: Rural doctors - who are they?

Rural Healthcare

Rural doctors -- who are they?

Three rural doctors tell their stories

MJA 1999; 171: 621

Australia has a reputation for being a land of wide open spaces; a vast, sparsely populated continent. Yet we are one of the most urbanised countries in the world. Despite this, over three million Australians (about 29% of the population) live in rural or remote areas. This proportion of our population is served by just 23% of the nation's GPs and 13% of specialists. Rates per 100 000 are shown in Box 1. Rural access to healthcare has been on the government's and our profession's agenda for many years.

Rural doctors are a special breed (Box 2). They are more likely to be male, to have trained overseas, to work longer hours and to be on call after hours. In their daily practice they encounter a wider variety of problems than their urban colleagues. If television were a true reflection of life we would know from Australia's long-running television series, A Country Practice, that country doctors are hardworking, compassionate, integrated with their communities, a trifle quirky, enamoured of the odd party and rather good looking! So, what are they like, and what are the pinnacles and pitfalls in the life of a rural doctor? We asked a general practitioner, a surgeon and a physician to give us a snapshot of life as a doctor in the bush.

A: Southern Cross, WA (Olga Ward, GP)
B: Tamworth, NSW (Peter Wakeford, Physician)
C: Atherton, QLD (Anthony Green, Surgeon)

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1: Australian medical practitioners, by specialty and region, 1997 (rates per 100000 population)
	Capital city	Other metro centre	Large rural centre	Small rural centre	Other rural area	Remote area	Total
Primary care practitioners
	121.4	107.4	108.5	95.0	76.8	71.7	110.4
Internal medicine specialists
	29.6	20.9	22.6	10.7	1.7	3.4	22.8
Surgeons
	18.4	15.7	22.8	10.9	2.5	3.6	15.4
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (1999), Medical Labour Force Survey 1997.

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2: Selected characteristics of Australian medical practitioners, 1997
	Rural and remote areas	Metropolitan areas
Primary care practitioners, 1997
% of GPs who are female	28.2	34.4
Average hours worked	48.6	43.7
% working less than 35 hours per week	19.8	27.5
% working 50 or more hours per week	54.4	40.4
% of GPs on call	61.6	28.7
% trained in UK/Ireland	12.4	6.2
Specialists, 1997
% of specialists who are female	10.5	16.3
Average hours worked	51.8	49.6
% working less than 35 hours per week	12.3	16.1
% working 50 or more hours per week	62.1	55.7
% of specialists on call	61.3	49.9
% trained overseas	25.5	17.0
% trained in UK/Ireland	12.1	6.0
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (1999), Medical Labour Force Survey 1997.

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