Abstract:
BACKGROUND : The University of Pretoria (UP) had its first intake of Bachelor of Clinical
Medical Practice (BCMP) students in 2009. The objectives of this study were to examine
the trends in geographical practice intentions and preferences of the first nine cohorts
of BCMP students. We also assessed sector and level of care preferences of six BCMP
cohorts.
METHODS : Cross-sectional studies were conducted 2011, 2014 and 2017. First-, second- and
third-year UP BCMP students were invited to complete a electronic questionnaire. Our
analyses consisted of calculating proportions for the practice intentions and preferences for
each surveys, and performing multiple logistic regression on the aggregated date to determine
their associations with sociodemographic and training characteristics.
RESULTS : The proportion of participants intending to practise as a clinical associate in a rural
area in South Africa directly after graduating was 62.5% in the 2014 survey and 69.7% in the
2017 survey, compared to 59.6% in the 2011 survey. The majority in all three surveys (53.4%
in 2011, 56.6% in 2014 and 59.8% in 2017) indicated a preference for rural practice. Both rural
practice intention and rural practice preference were found to be significantly associated
with respondent’s self-description of having lived most of her/his life in a rural area, and
rural district hospital exposure during training. In 2014 and 2017, approximately two-thirds
of the participants selected a public sector option as their most preferred work setting.
District hospitals were the most preferred setting of 30.3% participants in 2014 and 32.0%
in 2017.
CONCLUSION : Most participants across the three surveys intended to work in rural settings.
