Thailand special recruitment track of medical students: a series of annual cross-sectional surveys on the new graduates
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Thailand special recruitment track of medical students: a series of annual cross-sectional surveys on the new graduates between 2010 and 2012 Weerasak Putthasri1*, Rapeepong Suphanchaimat1, Thitikorn Topothai1, Thunthita Wisaijohn1, Noppakun Thammatacharee1,2 and Viroj Tangcharoensathien1
Abstract Background: Comprehensive policies for rural retention of medical doctor and other health professional, including education strategy and mandatory service, have been implemented in Thailand since the 1970s. This study compared the rural attitudes, intention to fulfil mandatory rural service and competencies between medical graduates’ from two modes of admission, normal and special tracks. Methods: Three cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire surveys were conducted in April 2010, 2011 and 2012. The questionnaire was distributed to all new medical graduates in the annual Ministry of Public Health meeting to allocate workplaces for the 3-year mandatory service. Findings: The majority of students were recruited through the normal track (56 to 77%) from medical schools in Bangkok (56 to 66%), having mostly attended secondary schools in Bangkok. A majority of special track graduates came from secondary schools in provincial cities (76 to 79%). All three batches came from well-educated parents. A slight difference in rural attitudes was observed between tracks. Univariable analysis found statistical associations between the intention to fulfil the 3-year obligation and special track recruitment and attributes on rural exposure. Multivariable analysis showed that graduates recruited through the special track had a 10 to 15% higher probability of fulfilling the mandatory service. Special track graduates scored higher on four out of five competencies, notably procedural skills, but normal track graduates had higher competency on clinical knowledge in major clinical subjects. Conclusion: Since special track recruitment resulted in a higher probability of fulfilling mandatory service and competency, increasing the proportion of special track recruitment and improving the effectiveness of policies addressing physician shortage were recommended. Keywords: Physicians, Medical graduate, Medical education, Supply and distribution, Professional competence, Attitude of health personnel
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 International Health Policy Program (IHPP), Ministry of Public Health, Tivanond Road, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2013 Putthasri et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Putthasri et al. Human Resources for Health 2013, 11:47 http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/11/1/47
Introduction Shortage and maldistribution of the health workforc
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