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Solving the shortage of general practitioners in remote and rural Australia: a Sisyphean task?

Max Kamien and W Ian Cameron
Med J Aust 2006; 185 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00743.x
Published online: 4 December 2006

Despite all our efforts, the boulder is barely halfway up the mountain

When I set up in practice at Kununoppin [Western Australia] in 1958, the hospital was administered by a teenage girl working 3 days per week, the bed average was 20 and if I had a problem, the Medical Department would solve it.


  • 1 Discipline of General Practice, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.
  • 2 NSW Rural Doctors Network, Newcastle, NSW.


Correspondence: mkamien@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

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  • 3. Rural Doctors Association of Australia. Viable models of rural and remote practice. Stage 1 and stage 2 reports. Canberra: RDAA, 2003.
  • 4. Oakeshott G. Prescription for trouble — could Dr Death happen again? About the House 2006; 28: 20-23. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/house_news/magazine/ATH.htm (accessed Nov 2006).
  • 5. Australian Rural and Remote Workforce Agencies Group. ARRWAG policy forum, March 2006. Draft proceedings report. http://www.arrwag.com.au/client_images/84244.pdf (accessed Oct 2006).
  • 6. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia’s health 2006. Canberra: AIHW, 2006. (AIHW Cat. No. AUS 73.) http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/aus/ah06/ (accessed Oct 2006).
  • 7. Joyce CM, McNeil JJ. Fewer medical graduates are choosing general practice: a comparison of four cohorts, 1980–1995. Med J Aust 2006; 185: 102-110. <MJA full text>
  • 8. White C. ‘Sinking deeper into the abyss’: a concise overview of current and future trends in the Australian urban, rural and remote general practice workforce. Brisbane: Health Workforce Queensland, 2006: 17-18. http://www.healthworkforce.com.au (accessed Oct 2006).
  • 9. Dunbabin J, McEwin K, Cameron I. Postgraduate medical placements in rural areas: their impact on the rural medical workforce. Rural Remote Health 2006; 6: 481.
  • 10. Laurence C, Elliott T. Where to from here? Characteristics and career determinants of interns in South Australia in 2003. Adelaide: Adelaide to Outback, 2004.

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