Abstract
PurposeWhile Australia has continued to invest in polices and strategies aimed at improving rural health service provision, many communities still confront a disproportionate share of the rural workforce shortage. The NSW Rural Doctors Network (RDN) contributes its perspectives about the importance of a whole of life career and the meandering stream concept to support the retention of health professionals rurally. We unpack these concepts and examine how they bring to light a new and useful approach to addressing rural workforce challenges and potentially contribute to building a stronger integrated care approach.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used involved tapping into RDN's 30-years of experience in recruitment and retention of remote and rural health professionals, combined with insights from relevant existing and emerging evidence.FindingsWe suggest that reframing retention to consider a life stage approach to career will guide more effective targeting of rural health policies, workforce planning, collaborative approaches and allocation of incentives. We posit that an understanding and acceptance of modern lifestyles and career pathways, and a celebration of career commitment to serving rural communities, is necessary for successful recruitment and retention of Australia's future rural health workforce beyond the training pipeline.Originality/valueWe outline and visually represent RDN's meandering stream approach to building and retaining a capable rural health workforce through addressing life cycle and workforce level needs. This perspective paper draws on RDN's direct experience in the field.
Highlights
Lack of access to quality health care providers is one of the primary root causes of health inequity globally and is disproportionately experienced by people living in remote and rural communities (WHO, 2010)
Despite efforts to address this disparity, it remains a challenge to attract and retain health professionals motivated to work in rural locations in Australia and elsewhere (AIHW, 2019; Durey et al, 2015)
We suggest the meandering stream, whole of life career perspective is helpful in considering how to retain a health professional for the whole of their career rurally and the positive impact that might have on delivering high quality primary health care
Summary
Originality/value – We outline and visually represent RDN’s meandering stream approach to building and retaining a capable rural health workforce through addressing life cycle and workforce level needs. This perspective paper draws on RDN’s direct experience in the field. Keywords Rural health care, Rural health professionals, Rural recruitment, Rural retention, Life stage approach, Whole of life, Integrated care
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