ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 169
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Medical student interest in general practice: Reversing
the trend
Miss Jasmine Davis1,2, Tisshapaa Sivagnanan1,3
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Australian Medical Students’ Association, 2The University of Melbourne, 3James Cook University
In Australia, there is a predicted shortfall of over 11,000 general practitioners by 2030. One of the
key factors in this shortfall is the low interest of medical students in undertaking a career in general
practice, with only 15% of graduating students reporting an interest in becoming a general practitioner.
In order to reverse the trend, this statistic needs to be closer to 50%, and in order to tackle this
problem there needs to be a whole of stakeholder and government approach to ensure general
practice becomes the most appealing career for graduating students.
This key policy issue was brought to light by stakeholders in general practice, and in 2022 the
Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) was an advocacy voice, putting this issue at the
forefront of the Australian Government’s policy agenda through increasing media attention as well as
holding a roundtable event with stakeholders. The roundtable event was held with all major general
practice and medical education stakeholders, and was attended by both the Minister for Health
and the Shadow Minister for Health. As a result of these discussions, AMSA produced a report
titled Medical student interest in general practice – reversing the trend with recommendations for
government, universities and general practice colleges to increase medical student interest in general
practice. This presentation will talk through the policy issue, how medical students put the policy issue
on the agenda of the Federal Government and explore what needs to be done to ensure general
practice is an appealing career choice for all students.
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