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Empiric validation of the Rural Australian Medical Undergraduate Scholarship ‘rural background’ criterion
Author(s) -
Laven Gillian A.,
Wilkinson David,
Beilby Justin J.,
McElroy Heather J.
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.1440-1854.2005.00683.x
Subject(s) - scholarship , medicine , medical education , family medicine , psychology , political science , law
Objective: Rural Australian Medical Undergraduate Scholarships (RAMUS) provide $10 000 per annum to selected medical students with a rural background. Eligibility criteria include having lived in a rural community for five consecutive or eight cumulative years. We sought to validate the above‐specified criterion using data from the Australian National Rural Background Study.Design: National case control study stratified by jurisdiction.Participants: Two thousand four hundred and fourteen Australian‐trained rural and urban general practitioners (GPs).Main outcome measure: Whether the RAMUS rural background criterion was met or not.Results: Doctors who met the RAMUS rural background criterion were more likely to be in rural practice (odds ratio = 2.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.97–3.18) than those who did not. This was true for all jurisdictions (except for the Northern Territory) and ranged from 1.95 for South Australia to 3.57 for Victoria.Conclusion: Rural GPs are more likely to fulfil the RAMUS rural background criterion, supporting the existence of the RAMUS scheme.