Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Menzies School of Health Research Doctor Deborah Russell says more investment in rural training for doctors will help address the rural workforce shortage

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Menzies School of Health Research Doctor Deborah Russell says more investment in rural training for doctors will help address the rural workforce shortage · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But now we do know that we've spoken a lot
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  Speaker 1: on this show about the workforce shortages that we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: around the Northern Territory when it comes to just about
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  Speaker 1: every sector. But one sector that we've spoken a lot
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  Speaker 1: about is health. Now, new research which links the amount
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  Speaker 1: of training time spent in rural areas with the odds
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  Speaker 1: of general practitioners working in rural and remote areas has
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  Speaker 1: today been published.
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  Speaker 2: Now, it's been published in the American.
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  Speaker 1: Journal of Graduate Medical Education by a senior research fellow
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  Speaker 1: from MENSI School of Health, and the study addresses an
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  Speaker 1: urgent need to understand how to increase the likelihood of
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  Speaker 1: junior doctors choosing to practice as GPS in.
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  Speaker 2: Rural or remote areas.
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  Speaker 1: Now, joining me on the line to talk further about
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  Speaker 1: this is the lead author, mensi's senior research fellow, doctor
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  Speaker 1: Deborah Russell.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Russell.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, thanks for having me on your show.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Now, why did
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  Speaker 1: you decide to undertake this research?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, I've been working investigating ural health workforce issues
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  Speaker 3: in Australia for quite a number of years. Now. Look,
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  Speaker 3: workforce male distribution, medical workforce, male distribution is one of
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  Speaker 3: the key issues facing our health system and getting equitable
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  Speaker 3: health outcome. So you know, that's what I guess drives
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  Speaker 3: drives my interest in that area of work here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose you know, when we look at Australia,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure that you know if you live in a
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  Speaker 1: capital city, if you live anywhere. Really at the moment
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  Speaker 1: people have been saying that they've got issues with workforce.
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  Speaker 1: But when you go more regional or remote and you're
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  Speaker 1: looking at the health sector, particularly gps and doctors, it's
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  Speaker 1: pretty tough going right now.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, Look with regard to rural medical workforce that
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  Speaker 3: you know, there have been issues there for many, many
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  Speaker 3: years and they haven't been resolved, and I think the
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  Speaker 3: pandemic has highlighted, you know, how precarious the situation is.
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  Speaker 1: And doctor Russell, I understand that the research shows that
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  Speaker 1: when junior doctors do their GP training in rural and
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  Speaker 1: remote areas, they're more likely to then subsequently decide to
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  Speaker 1: work in rural areas.
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  Speaker 2: Do we do a lot of.
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  Speaker 1: This training in rural and remote areas in Australia?
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  Speaker 3: Oh yes, it's o Katie. It's not a straightforward answer.
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  Speaker 3: So the period of time that the American study looked
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  Speaker 3: at was the first three years after a doctor graduates,
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  Speaker 3: and during this period of time there's actually a gap
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  Speaker 3: in rural training exposures. For Australian graduates, we do much
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  Speaker 3: better than the US a bit later in the training. So,
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  Speaker 3: for example, when an Australian graduate trains to become a GP,
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  Speaker 3: so it becomes a GP registrar, there's a requirement that
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  Speaker 3: half of the training of registrars in Australia occurs in
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  Speaker 3: rural areas. So we actually do much better than the
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  Speaker 3: US then, but we have this big gap in you know,
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  Speaker 3: the time before the doctor gets into GP training.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So based on the research that you've done, you
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  Speaker 1: know what kind of impact is this having on places
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  Speaker 1: like the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: Look in the Northern Territory, there's been issues with getting
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  Speaker 3: enough doctors interested in general practice and entering into GP
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  Speaker 3: into the GP training program. So you know, over the
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  Speaker 3: last probably five or six years, the numbers of doctors
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  Speaker 3: entering GP training has halved in the Northern characties. So
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  Speaker 3: it used to be about over sixty it's now come
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  Speaker 3: back as far as I know to be around about thirty. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: so and you know the non territory reflects what's happening
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  Speaker 3: across Australia. So across Australia there's been a declining interest
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  Speaker 3: in in doctors wanting to become GPS for a whole
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  Speaker 3: range of reasons. But you know, it doesn't leave our
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  Speaker 3: future GP workforce in good shape really, you know, it
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  Speaker 3: is really quite concerning.
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  Speaker 2: And so what do you reckon we need to look
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  Speaker 2: at doing differently?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think I think that that space where there's
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  Speaker 3: a gap in Australia for getting doctors out into rural
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  Speaker 3: communities and particularly into family into general practice type settings
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  Speaker 3: when they first graduate, I think that that's a key
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  Speaker 3: you know, policy that could change and make to making privacy.
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  Speaker 3: It used to be a program that did that and
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  Speaker 3: it was quite effective, but it was defunded probably know
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  Speaker 3: five or six years ago something like that, and you
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  Speaker 3: know since then that the issues with getting doctors to
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  Speaker 3: be interested in general practice has been increasingly a problem.
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  Speaker 1: But it's so important, right, I mean, it's so important
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  Speaker 1: that we've got enough GPS working in our communities. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we're like in the rural and regional sort of areas
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  Speaker 1: in terms of keeping an eye on people and looking
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  Speaker 1: after people before they get to that point where they're
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  Speaker 1: needing to present to the hospital or needing to go
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  Speaker 1: for further care.
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  Speaker 3: I absolutely totally agree with what you're saying, Katie. GPS
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  Speaker 3: and primary healthcare generally sort of the foundations of our
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  Speaker 3: primary healthcare system and our health system. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: if we don't have good primary healthcare, then patients end
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  Speaker 3: up going into hospital more than what they should. So
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  Speaker 3: if we're going to improve the fairnest equity of health
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  Speaker 3: outcomes for Australian population who really need to have good
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  Speaker 3: general practice, there's good evidence to show that probably healthcare
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  Speaker 3: works to improve our health.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we really appreciate your time this morning and appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your sort of going through that research with us. Doctor
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  Speaker 1: Deborah Russell, thank you so much for having a chat
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Pleasure Katie, thank you, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks