WORK OF FEMALE RURAL DOCTORS

Objective: To identify the impact of family life on the ways women practice rural medicine and the changes needed to attract women to rural practice. Design: Census of women rural doctors in Victoria in 2000, using a self-completed postal survey. Setting: General and specialist practice. Subjects: Two hundred and seventy-one female general practitioners and 31 female specialists practising in Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Area Classifications 3–7. General practitioners are those doctors with a primary medical degree and without additional specialist qualifications. Main outcome measure: Interaction of hours and type of work with family responsibilities. Results: Generalist and specialist women rural doctors carry the main responsibility for family care. This is reflected in the number of hours they work in clinical and non-clinical professional practice, availability for oncall and hospital work, and preference for the responsibilities of practice partnership or the flexibility of salaried positions. Most of the doctors had established a satisfactory balance between work and family responsibilities, although a substantial number were overworked in order to provide an income for their families or meet the needs of their communities. Thirty-six percent of female rural general practitioners and 56% of female rural specialists preferred to work fewer hours. Female general practitioners with responsibility for children were more than twice as likely as female general practitioners without children to be in a salaried position and less likely to be a practice partner. The changes needed to attract and retain women in rural practice include a place for everyone in the doctor’s family, flexible practice structures, mentoring by women doctors and financial and personal recognition.