Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2008.

Call number: LD2668 .P7 1974 D35

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Clinical Nursing, 2002. / Bibliography: leaves 277-285.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Flinders University, School of Medicine. / Typescript bound. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 204-216) Also available in electronic format.

Abstract not available

This dissertation analyzes one state's efforts to increase the number of its primary care physicians and encourage their retention and distribution to rural underserved areas. This analysis was accomplished through an examination of physicians as they completed training in Texas family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetric/gynecology residency programs. State licensure data provided insights into these primary care specialties by showing which residents remained in the state to practice, and by showing the numbers and specialties of physicians who practice in rural underserved areas. The primary purpose of this study was to increase understanding and document similarities and differences in the primary care residency programs' production of physicians who remained in Texas and who practiced in a whole county HPSA following training. The following analyses were used to evaluate the research questions and hypotheses: frequency distributions, geographic depictions, Chi-Square tests and binary logistic regression. These analyses provided supporting evidence that significant differences exist among resident programs in the four primary care medical specialties. Differences were also found in residents' likelihood to remain in Texas to practice and their likelihood to practice in whole county Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). This study showed that those residents who trained in Texas largely remained in Texas and actively practiced medicine years after their residency training had been completed. The training and location of primary care physicians in Texas is influenced by what medical specialty programs are available and where. This suggests that increasing the number and type of residency programs in more remote areas may have a positive influence on the physician workforce of those regions. This study confirms the finding of other institutional and single medical specialty studies that physicians tend to remain in the state in which they complete their residency training. However, this study found that there are variations by primary care specialty, gender, ethnicity, and program location. Residency training is an essential piece in supplying the Texas physician workforce and ensuring that its stability and long-term growth will position it to be prepared to care for the population.

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / The purpose of the study was to develop a framework that could be used to assess e-health readiness for rural South Africa. Data for the study was collected from Moses Kotane Municipality in the North West Province of South Africa. One state hospital and ten clinics were used for data collection. From related literature, six constructs of; core readiness, structural readiness, engagement readiness, societal readiness, performance and effort expectance were used as pillars for e-health readiness assessment. The attributes that were identified in the literature were validated by healthcare administrators at the regional office of the Northwest province.

In the context of a country and a continent that is largely rural, education for rural medical practice in Africa is relatively undocumented and poorly conceptualized. The arena of medical education in South Africa has been largely unchanged by the transition to democracy, despite intentions of reform. The literature reveals a lack of empirical evidence as well as theory in education for rural health, particularly in developing countries. This report presents twelve original papers on a range of key issues that represent the author’s contribution to filling this gap in South Africa. It aims to contribute to the development of a discourse in education for rural medical practice in an African context, and culminates in a theoretical paper regarding pedagogy for rural health. A conceptual framework is utilized that is based on the standard chronological steps in the initial career path of medical doctors in South Africa. Beginning with the literature that is focused around the need to recruit and retain health professionals in rural and underserved areas around the world, the report then addresses the policy context for medical education in South Africa, examining the obstacles to true reform of a transformatory nature. The selection of students of rural origin, and the curricular elements necessary to prepare graduates for rural practice are then investigated, including the actual career choices that medical graduates make in South Africa. Out in the workplace, the educational components of the year of compulsory community service are described, including organizational learning and apprenticeship as novice practitioners, placed under severe pressure in rural hospitals in the South African public health service. A community-oriented type of medical practice is described amongst exemplary individuals, indicating the aspiration towards a different kind of educational outcome. Finally the thesis as such is presented in the final paper regarding a theoretical basis for education for rural health, consisting of the combined notions of placed-based and critical pedagogy. It is argued that while the geographic elements of rural practice require a pedagogy that is situated in a particular rural context, the developmental imperatives of South Africa demand a critical analysis of health and the health care system, and the conceptual basis of this position is explained. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.