Call to expand teaching opportunities in rural family medicine

Abstract

In an attempt to become less dependent on international medical graduates, the Australian government has invested heavily in increased number of medical school places over the last decade. There is now consensus that workforce shortages, particularly in rural practice, general practice and rural generalist medicine are due to maldistribution of medical workforce rather than a national shortage. A rural generalist is defined as a general practitioner who provides emergency after-hours, inpatient services and one or more additional skills such as anaesthetics, palliative care or mental health. Since 2002, the Australian Commonwealth Government has invested in rural medical workforce development through the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program.