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Factors associated with rural doctors’ intention to continue a rural career: A survey of 3072 doctors in Japan
Author(s) -
Matsumoto Masatoshi,
Okayama Masanobu,
Inoue Kazuo,
Kajii Eiji
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2005.00705.x
Subject(s) - logistic regression , medicine , family medicine , government (linguistics) , odds , odds ratio , rural area , position (finance) , medical education , nursing , finance , pathology , economics , philosophy , linguistics
Objective: To show the relationship between the personal and educational backgrounds of rural doctors and their intention to continue a rural career.Design: Nationwide postal survey.Setting: Public clinics or hospitals in municipalities that are classified as ‘rural’ by the national government.Subjects: A total of 4896 doctors working for 828 public clinics and hospitals.Measurements: A questionnaire was mailed. The questionnaire inquired about the subject's age, sex, hometown, exposure to rural practice in undergraduate education, postgraduate training, continuing medical education, current position and affiliation status with a medical school, as well as his or her intention to continue a rural career.Results: Response rate was 64%; 26% answered that they intended to continue a rural career. Postgraduate training in general internal medicine, general surgery, anaesthesiology, paediatrics and gastroenterology were positively related with the intention to continue a rural career (odds ratio = 2.045, 1.59, 1.30, 1.48, 1.38). Rural background, undergraduate exposure to rural practice, multispecialty‐rotation in postgraduate training and current administrative position had positive correlations with the intention to continue in logistic regression analysis (odds ratio = 1.80, 2.47, 1.54, 2.17). Affiliation with a medical school department was negatively related with the intention to continue (odds ratio = 0.45).Conclusion: In addition to the rural background of physicians, some undergraduate and postgraduate factors were independently associated with the intention to continue a rural career.