BENDIGO trainee doctors' research has sparked a nationwide campaign to attract more medical practitioners to regional areas.
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Skye Kinder and Louise Manning conducted a survey of junior doctors in 2018, to understand their interest in rural medicine.
It led to a campaign #destinationrural, which has recently received an additional $450,000 support from the federal government.
Past and current Bendigo doctors Dr Kinder and Dr Manning surveyed 250 young doctors across Australia.
They discovered that junior doctors were interested in working in rural and regional areas, but had a poor understanding of their options.
From that a campaign #destinationrural was born, to raise awareness of opportunities in rural and regional areas.
It's involved senior and trainee doctors going to major metropolitan hospitals to meet with junior doctors, webinars across the country and networking events for those interested in rural medicine.
The research specifically targeted junior doctors, who have graduated from medical school but have not started specialty training.
Dr Kinder said most reported they had received no information about rural careers since graduating medical school.
She said the campaign aimed to increase awareness of rural opportunities.
"We know that those opportunities exist," Dr Kinder said.
"Our conclusion was there's a real communication issue here between government funded opportunities for rural practice and the awareness of those opportunities."
Rural Doctors Association of Australia chief executive Peta Rutherford said the organisation was pleased to get the additional funding, because it seemed the campaign's momentum was building.
Mrs Rutherford said just by increasing awareness, young doctors considered what a rural career would mean for them.
She said some people had preconceived ideas about what working rurally would mean, often that it wasn't a career step forward.
But Mrs Rutherford said people didn't have to go rural forever, but it could be a rewarding experience and add value to training.
"For those who do it, the feedback that we get is they get lots more hands on clinical teaching when they're in small hospitals," she said.
"Even if you're a sub-specialist in a major hospital it will make you a better doctor.
"A bit of rural experience for everybody will stay with them well into their career."
Mrs Rutherford said a lot more was needed to combat a doctor shortage in rural and regional areas, but promoting rural medicine for young doctors was a start.
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