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Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario

BACKGROUND: New family medicine graduates are a promising group to recruit to underserved rural areas. This study aimed to understand the experiences of this group as they transitioned to practice in rural Ontario. METHODS: We used a hermeneutic phenomenology approach. Purposive sampling was used to...

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Autores principales: Walsh, Kathleen, Passi, Kara, Shaw, Nicola, Reed, Kerry, Newbery, Sarah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: CMA Impact Inc. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10586493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37848257
http://dx.doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20230041
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author Walsh, Kathleen
Passi, Kara
Shaw, Nicola
Reed, Kerry
Newbery, Sarah
author_facet Walsh, Kathleen
Passi, Kara
Shaw, Nicola
Reed, Kerry
Newbery, Sarah
author_sort Walsh, Kathleen
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: New family medicine graduates are a promising group to recruit to underserved rural areas. This study aimed to understand the experiences of this group as they transitioned to practice in rural Ontario. METHODS: We used a hermeneutic phenomenology approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants who graduated from a Canadian family medicine residency program and worked in a rural community in Ontario (Rurality Index for Ontario score ≥ 40) for at least 1 year within the past 5 years. Participants completed an online demographic survey followed by a virtual semistructured interview (May–August 2022). Interviews were video recorded and transcribed. Two researchers reviewed transcripts for codes, and then codes were reviewed in an iterative process to create themes. Transcripts, codes and themes were reviewed by an independent researcher, and final themes were shared with participants to ensure reliability. RESULTS: We included 18 family physicians in the study. We identified 8 themes and 18 subthemes. The themes identified as important to the experience of new graduates were as follows: choosing rural practice, preparedness for practice, navigating work–life balance, navigating transition to practice, challenges during transition to practice, successes during transition to practice, locuming and emergency medicine as part of rural generalist practice. INTERPRETATION: Most physicians interviewed felt prepared for rural practice and enjoyed their work; however, they faced unique challenges associated with being an early-career physician in rural practice. This study identifies opportunities for improvements, which can guide medical educators, rural communities and their recruiters, new graduates and policy-makers.
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spelling pubmed-105864932023-10-20 Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario Walsh, Kathleen Passi, Kara Shaw, Nicola Reed, Kerry Newbery, Sarah CMAJ Open Research BACKGROUND: New family medicine graduates are a promising group to recruit to underserved rural areas. This study aimed to understand the experiences of this group as they transitioned to practice in rural Ontario. METHODS: We used a hermeneutic phenomenology approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants who graduated from a Canadian family medicine residency program and worked in a rural community in Ontario (Rurality Index for Ontario score ≥ 40) for at least 1 year within the past 5 years. Participants completed an online demographic survey followed by a virtual semistructured interview (May–August 2022). Interviews were video recorded and transcribed. Two researchers reviewed transcripts for codes, and then codes were reviewed in an iterative process to create themes. Transcripts, codes and themes were reviewed by an independent researcher, and final themes were shared with participants to ensure reliability. RESULTS: We included 18 family physicians in the study. We identified 8 themes and 18 subthemes. The themes identified as important to the experience of new graduates were as follows: choosing rural practice, preparedness for practice, navigating work–life balance, navigating transition to practice, challenges during transition to practice, successes during transition to practice, locuming and emergency medicine as part of rural generalist practice. INTERPRETATION: Most physicians interviewed felt prepared for rural practice and enjoyed their work; however, they faced unique challenges associated with being an early-career physician in rural practice. This study identifies opportunities for improvements, which can guide medical educators, rural communities and their recruiters, new graduates and policy-makers. CMA Impact Inc. 2023-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC10586493/ /pubmed/37848257 http://dx.doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20230041 Text en © 2023 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original publication is properly cited, the use is noncommercial (i.e., research or educational use), and no modifications or adaptations are made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
spellingShingle Research
Walsh, Kathleen
Passi, Kara
Shaw, Nicola
Reed, Kerry
Newbery, Sarah
Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title_full Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title_fullStr Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title_full_unstemmed Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title_short Starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural Ontario
title_sort starting out rural: a qualitative study of the experiences of family physician graduates transitioning to practice in rural ontario
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10586493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37848257
http://dx.doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20230041
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