ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Retaining doctors and
dentists in
remote areas of
Indonesia remains a national priority of the Indonesian
government. The purpose of this study was to analyze the interventions for retention of doctors and
dentists in
remote areas using the discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach. Materials and
Methods:
A DCE was conducted to investigate preferences of doctors and
dentists for retention in
remote areas. This
research was conducted in 78
primary healthcare settings across 15 provinces in
Indonesia. The conditional
logit model was used to explore stated preferences for each attribute.
Results:
The total number of
respondents was 158, including 113 doctors and 45
dentists. In general, doctors placed the highest preference on getting priority for
government scholarships to facilitate retention in
remote areas (OR=5.65, p<0.001). Specifically,
dentists preferred security guarantees from
local government (OR = 4.87, p<0.001). Both groups valued having an official residence (OR=3.6, p<0.001) as a factor for retention in
remote areas.
Conclusion:
Scholarship, security guarantees,
housing facilities, and medical facilities were the most considered factors for retaining doctors and
dentists in a
remote area. This study confirms the importance of a combination of interventions in maintaining doctors and
dentists in
remote areas.
Policy options in the form of non-financial and financial intervention packages can be combined to improve their retention.
