DATA released earlier this week by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand (Medical Deans) revealed a growing interest from medical graduates in pursuing a career as a rural generalist.

The discipline jumped to rank as the sixth highest choice for the Australian medical students who graduated in 2023, with seven per cent of respondents to Medical Dean’s annual survey of graduating students expressing this preference.

Interest in a rural career also continues to be strong, with 32 per cent of respondents indicating a preference to work in a non-metropolitan area.

Coming from a rural background and spending more of their course learning in a rural environment were associated with this difference.

Medical Deans president, Professor Michelle Leech AM, said, “the data supports the drive and investment to enable students to study and learn in the regions where we need them and where they want to be, with many more of our students now able to undertake their whole or substantial periods of their medical program in regional and rural areas.”

Of those Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) respondents who undertook a rural placement of more than a year’s duration, 34 per cent expressed a preference for practice in a rural town or remote community.

“The MSOD data supports what we hear from our students that these positive and valuable learning experiences have a strong impact and play a key role in encouraging them to consider the rewards that come from a rural career,” Professor Leech said.

The 2024 MSOD Report1 also revealed that General Practice remains graduates’ most preferred specialty, with the proportion of students considering rural generalism increasing to seven per cent.

Professor Leech said “given the long list of possible future careers to choose from, it is encouraging that specialising in General Practice has been the most popular for the last few years, outranking physician and surgical training and other disciplines.

“Certainly, from the perspective of absolute numbers, we need an even higher proportion of the graduating cohort to pursue general practice training, but this is where experience in the early years of practice as a junior doctor is crucial.”