Doctors who spend their intern year training at Ballarat Base Hospital (BBH), a regional hospital in Victoria, are more likely to return to the bush as GPs than their colleagues who trained in metropolitan hospitals, according to a study published in the current issue of The Medical Journal of Australia.

Co-author of the study, Dr Hedley Peach, visiting consultant and professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, and colleagues, compared the practice location choices of study participants — fifty-seven Victorian medical graduates completing year-long internships at BBH between 1989 and 1997 and 126 metropolitan interns, chosen at random.

"BBH interns were three times more likely to enter non-metropolitan general practice, many locally," Dr Peach said.

"However, 13 BBH interns had entered specialist practice or training, but none had done so outside metropolitan areas.

More than 40 per cent of BBH interns were practising as GPs in non-metropolitan areas, concurring with observations on doctors completing rural internships and residencies in Canada and North America.

"Non-metropolitan communities should be doing all they can to encourage interns aspiring to become rural doctors," Dr Peach said.

"Thirteen of the 55 hospitals (24 per cent) that offered internships for 2003 were outside metropolitan areas. However, their internships comprised only 9 per cent of all internships available.

"Our data justify more research to determine the precise influence of non-metropolitan internships on eventual practice location.

"If it could be proved that non-metropolitan internships do influence the recruitment and retention of doctors outside metropolitan areas, then there might be a case for redistributing internships in Australia.

"However issues around clinical experience, training standards and funding will need to be considered," Dr Peach said.

In the same issue of the Journal, GP educator Dr Susan Wearne from the Centre for Remote Health at the Flinders University, supports Peach and colleagues' call for more research, saying the distribution of internships should better reflect the health needs across Australia.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

CONTACT:     Dr Hedley Peach, 03 5320 4015 (h), 03 5320 4077 (w) available all weekend
                   Dr Susan Wearne, 0408 806 501
                   Judith Tokley, AMA, 02 6270 5471, 0408 824 306