Training our future rural medical workforce

Comment: Data collected by the Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools (CDAMS) would appear to broadly support the pattern of medical student origins reported by McCusker from the University of Adelaide. CDAMS has been collecting medical student statistics annually for the past few years. Box 1 sets out the basic enrolment figures for Australian and international students across all years in 2003.

In 2003, CDAMS also commenced collecting data on interstate mobility (ie, students attending medical school in another state) among first-year medical students at the 12 medical schools. As a general principle, some level of interstate mobility brings positive benefits by fostering diversity in the medical student body and broadening educational and social opportunities for individual students. However, as McCusker rightly points out, this can create problems when interstate medical graduates choose to return to their home states (or move to other states) when they enter their intern training years.

In this regard, South Australia faces particular problems, as it has the highest proportion of students entering medicine from interstate. Box 2 shows that just under half of all commencing medical students at Adelaide and Flinders medical schools in 2003 were from other states. This may well have an impact when these students come to choose their intern training locations.

Box 3 sets out state averages for first-year students with a rural background. The figure for South Australia as a state suggests that it is reasonably comparable with other states. However, there is a sizeable gap between the rural student cohorts at Flinders and Adelaide medical schools: in 2003, 26% compared with 12%, respectively, were from a rural background. All medical schools in Australia have committed their energies to a range of collaborative programs, together with the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, aimed at ensuring a sustainable medical workforce that is equitably distributed across the nation.