James Cook University's rurally orientated medical school selection process: quality graduates and positive workforce outcomes

Introduction: The regionally based James Cook University (JCU) College of Medicine and Dentistry aims to meet its mission to address the health needs of the region by using a selection policy favouring rural origin applicants and providing students with early and repeated exposure to rural experiences during training. This study seeks to determine if the JCU medical school's policy of preferentially selecting rural and remote background students is associated with differing patterns of undergraduate performance or graduate practice location.\ud \ud Methods: Data at application to medical school and during the undergraduate years was retrieved from administrative databases held by the university and the medical school. Postgraduate location data were obtained either from personal contact via email, telephone or Facebook or electronically from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority website. Practice location was described across Australian Standard Geographical Classification Remoteness Area (ASGC-RA) categories, with 1 being a major city and 5 being a very remote location.\ud \ud Results: The 856 Australian-based students accepted into the JCU medical program between 2000 and 2008 came from all geographical regions across Australia: 20% metropolitan (ASGC-RA 1), 20% inner regional (ASGC-RA 2), 56% outer regional (ASGC-RA 3), and 5% from remote or very remote locations (ASGC-RA 4 and 5). Having a rural or remote hometown at application (ASGC-RA 3–5) was significantly associated with a lower tertiary entrance score (p<0.001), a lower interview score in the medical school selection process (p