• Denese Playford, Lauren Masi, Anne Rowe, Jennifer May, and Rosalie Wharton.
• Rural Clinical School of Western Australia, School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
• Fam Pract. 2022 Jul 19; 39 (4): 633-638.

ObjectiveIn light of current debate around securing and distributing the General Practitioner (GP) workforce in Australia, we analysed rural health workforce data to identify characteristics associated with long-term tenure for rural female GPs, an importantly lacking part of the rural workforce in Australia.MethodsIn this cohort study, 555 currently practicing rural female GPs with long, versus short, rural work histories were surveyed annually. Their data were compared.ResultsIn logistic regression, as expected the factors associated with 7+ years (long-term) versus <7 years (short-term) rural work were: being older (odds ratio [OR] 6.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16, 13.0, P < 0.001); being an Australian resident (OR 4.64, 95% CI 2.17, 9.91, P < 0.001); having a practice teaching commitment (OR 3.55, 95% CI 1.67, 7.55, P = 0.001); having multiple children (OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.23, 3.88, P = 0.008); rural health club experience as a medical student (OR 5.23, 95% CI 1.11, 23.86, P = 0.033); and, marginally, being rurally experienced as an undergraduate through the Rural Clinical School programme (OR 8.89, 95% CI 0.921, 85.75, P = 0.059) and having a rural background spouse (OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.94, 4.21, P = 0.070).ConclusionThe factors involved in long-term rural work for female GPs include a longitudinal set from medical school into postgraduate practice life, some based on Australian government policy initiatives and others on lifestyle choices. These factors should be considered in providing a clinically mature female GP workforce to rural populations.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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