B. Emmerson et al., RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF PSYCHIATRISTS IN NON-METROPOLITAN PUBLICPOSITIONS IN QUEENSLAND - RESEARCH ON QUEENSLAND HEALTHS RESPONSE, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 30(5), 1996, pp. 667-671
Objective: To evaluate Queensland Health's recruitment campaign of 15
full-time psychiatrists to non-metropolitan areas between July 1992 an
d December 1993.Method: A detailed 170-item Likert-type questionnaire
was designed and mailed to all 15 psychiatrists. Thirteen questionnair
es were completed and followed-up by a face to face interview. Results
: Findings indicate that most of those recruited were experienced seni
or specialists who came to the positions as result of personal contact
and were attracted to non-metropolitan positions because of 'lifestyl
e' and 'professional challenge' variables. 'Lifestyle' and 'profession
al' variables were identified as major contributors to their retention
. They reported that 'bureaucracy' and 'social and family' reasons wou
ld be the most likely cause of them considering leaving their current
positions. Conclusions: While the recruitment campaign was evaluated a
s successful, some aspects were clearly more influential than others.
It was noted that factors which were likely to influence psychiatrists
to leave non-metropolitan public sector positions were more 'public'
than 'non-metropolitan' in nature.