EDUCATION FOR RURAL PRACTICE IN CANADA AND AUSTRALIA

Better education, recruitment, and retention of rural doctors are prio rities in Canada and Australia. All medical schools in both countries offer some training in rural areas. In Canada, postgraduate training i s provided by university medical schools, which have produced a variet y of rural educational initiatives in response to regional needs and r esources. In Australia, postgraduate training is provided by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and specialty col leges, and the RACGP's Faculty of Rural Medicine has established a nat ional training program for rural medicine. In both countries, a wide v ariety of continuing medical education (CME) courses are being develop ed for rural doctors, and funding resources and local programs are off ered to make it easier for rural doctors to attend CME courses. Both c ountries continue to struggle to ensure high-quality, accessible medic al care fur rural populations. Although the two countries differ both in their health and in medical education systems, Canada and Australia are similar geographically and in their population distributions, and can benefit from and build on each other's experiences and advances.