Rural Origin Health Science Students in South African Universities
S. Afr. med. j. (Online)
; 99(1): 54-56, 2009.
Article
en En
| AIM
| ID: biblio-1271280
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CG1.1
ABSTRACT
Background. Rural areas in all countries suffer from a shortage of health care professionals. In South Africa; the shortage is particularly marked; some rural areas have a doctor-topopulation ratio of 5.5100 000. Similar patterns apply to other health professionals. Increasing the proportion of rural-origin students in faculties of health sciences has been shown to be one way of addressing such shortages; as the students are more likely to work in rural areas after graduating. Objective. To determine the proportion of rural- origin students at all medical schools in South Africa. Design. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted in 2003. Lists of undergraduate students admitted from 1999 to 2002 for medicine; dentistry; physiotherapy and occupational therapy were obtained from 9 health science faculties. Origins of students were classified as city; town and rural by means of postal codes. The proportion of rural-origin students was determined and compared with the percentage of rural people in South Africa (46.3). Results. Of the 7 358 students; 4 341 (59) were from cities; 1 107 (15) from towns and 1 910 (26) from rural areas. The proportion of rural-origin students in the different courses nationally were medicine - 27.4; physiotherapy - 22.4; occupational therapy - 26.7; and dentistry - 24.8. Conclusion. The proportion of rural-origin students in South Africa was considerably lower than the national rural population ratio. Strategies are needed to increase the number of rural-origin students in universities via preferential admission to alleviate the shortage of health professionals in rural areas
Texto completo:
1
Base de datos:
AIM
Asunto principal:
Estudiantes
/
Servicios de Salud Rural
/
Área sin Atención Médica
Idioma:
En
Revista:
S. Afr. med. j. (Online)
Año:
2009
Tipo del documento:
Article