• Angela Durey, Hamish Holewa
• International Program of Psycho-Social Health Research

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23 June 2009Between mid-1990s to 2004, there has been an eighty per cent increase in overseas trained doctors working in rural areas, compared with an eight percent increase for Australian trained doctors. Despite this increase, overseas trained doctors often find themselves in a different culture, with different healthcare models and often feel ill prepared, unsupported and have no control over how the service operates. Other challenges noted include: a change in biomedical and familiar disease treatment schedules; bureaucratic and communication challenges; and transitioning from paper- based to computer- based systems. A higher recruitment and retention rate for overseas trained doctors in Indigenous communities can be achieved through increased cultural and communication training, fostering equality within the rural healthcare, avoiding top-down organisational models and approaching issues in an open and flexible manner.

To talk about the role of overseas trained doctors in rural and Indigenous areas, Dr Angela Durey spoke to Hamish Holewa for this week's IPP-SHR podcast.