Factors related to Japanese internal medicine doctors' retention or migration to rural areas: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Internal medicine (IM) doctors in Japan play the role of primary care physicians; however, the shortage of rural physicians continues. This study aims to elucidate the association of age, sex, board certification, type of work, and main clinical work with the retention or migration of IM doctors to rural areas.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included 82,363 IM doctors in 2010, extracted from the national census data of medical doctors. The explanatory variables were age, sex, type of work, primary clinical work, and changes in board certification status. The outcome was retention or migration to rural areas. The first tertile of population density (PD) of municipalities defined as rural area. After stratifying the baseline ruralities as rural or non-rural

SUBMITTER: Saijo Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9922564 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature