Understanding the New Generation of Doctors
Angela Aldred July 08
One third of registrars are unsure of whether they will be continuing in general practice in 10 years' time.
Renumeration, lifestyle and work/life balance are the main influences in this decision.
Mark McCrindle, a social researcher, presented these findings at a recent RWAV conference, based on his survey of 100 Generation Y GP registrars. All registrars found benefits in their rural term, and had a better than anticipated experience.
The benefits were stated as great training, varied role, professional reward, and appreciative patients. The challenges were;
- social/relational: not having a chance to experience rural life
- personal: aspirational (high achievers), metropolitan and/or multicultural background with no prior experience of rural Australia
- professional: intense workload (OK for 6 months, not for life), lack of specialist support, professional isolation, medico-legal (lack of supervision)
Remedies were suggested;
- redefining success: 5 years of employment of a doctor may be a good result
- restructuring: more mentoring and support
- incentives: the current 30% windfall on pay is lessened by expenses, an 80-100% increase would overcome the barriers to working in rural/regional general practice
- innovating: rural health models, entrepreneurial nature of general practice needs selling
- marketing: talk about benefits of rural general practice on an emotional basis
Joe Rotella, head of the General Practice Student Network, noted that the quality of medical students' experience during general practice placements is paramount in influencing their future direction.
For a full copy of the report from the RWAV conference, contact me at .
This article is available online at http://bddgp.org.au/article/2008/07/generation-y
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