To the Editor: We read with interest the recent article concerning Australian medical workforce issues.1 Brooks et al comment on feminisation, lifestyle changes, increased community demand and globalisation as major issues for the future medical workforce.

Here, we present data from recent rural high school health career promotion activities, describing student interest in health careers. These data further support this trend in feminisation. Promotion of health careers in high schools is a core long-term rural workforce strategy in Australia.2 It is justified, as rural origin is an important predictor of medical graduates pursuing a rural health career.3

The New England Area Rural Training Unit (NEARTU) promotes rural health careers to school students, undergraduates and postgraduates in north-west New South Wales. Multidisciplinary regional health career expos were offered to all high school students in Years 9 to 12 from 2000 onwards in the regional centres of Armidale, Tamworth and Moree.

Medical, nursing and allied health professionals and undergraduates (of both sexes) staffed the expos. Inquiries were recorded by sex, year at school and health career. Students could enquire about multiple careers.

In 2000, 453 high school students (394 female; 59 male) expressed an interest in health careers at expos. The Box displays that, for both female and male Year 9 to Year 11 students, interest in a nursing career far exceeds interest in either allied health or medicine, and, for Year 12 students, an interest in allied health far exceeds interest in either nursing or medicine.

Enquiries were more frequent from females than from males, ranging from just over four times (medicine) to eight times more frequent (nursing). In 2000, 60% of these students’ enquiries (270 enquiries) referred to nursing, 33% (151 enquiries) referred to allied health and 7% (32 enquiries) referred to medicine. Compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 data, which showed a 50.4 to 49.6 ratio of females to males in the region’s high schools, our increased interest by females is statistically significant (P < 0.01). In other careers projects by NEARTU in 2000–2002 (eg, work experience placements, and health career promotion at local agricultural field days), similar sex differences were observed (female-to-male ratio range, 10:1 to 3.5:1).

Increased interest by female high school students is consistent with other reports of high school students’ health career preferences in the United States. 4,5 Registering interest is only the first step in considering a health career. The higher proportion of females expressing this interest in rural high schools is important for rural workforce planning.

Interest in health careers by high school students in 2000