abstract: 'Background and Objective

  The shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas, is a major concern

  in India, which in turn affects the effective delivery of health care

  services. To support new policies able to address this issue, a study

  was conducted to determine the discouraging and encouraging factors

  affecting medical students'' interests towards working in rural areas.

  Methods

  This cross-sectional, descriptive qualitative study has been conducted

  in three states of North India. It comprised six focus group

  discussions, each consisting of 10-20 medical students of six government

  medical colleges. The verbatim and thematic codes have been transcribed

  by using a `categorical aggregation approach''. The discussions were

  thematically analyzed.

  Results

  Ninety medical students participated in the study. The discouraging

  factors were grouped under two broad themes namely unchallenging

  professional environment (poor accommodation facilities and lack of

  necessary infrastructure; lack of drug and equipment supplies;

  inadequate human resource support; lesser travel and research

  opportunities) and gap between financial rewards and social

  disadvantages (lower salary and incentives, social isolation, political

  interference, lack of security). Similarly, the encouraging factors were

  congregated under three main themes namely willingness to give back to

  disadvantaged communities (desire to serve poor, underprivileged and

  home community), broader clinical exposure (preferential admission in

  post-graduation after working more than 2-3 years in rural areas) and

  higher status and respect (achieving higher social status).

  Conclusions

  This qualitative study highlights key factors affecting medical

  students'' interest to work in rural areas. A substantial similarity was

  noted between the factors which emerge from the current study and those

  documented in other countries. These findings will help policy-makers

  and medical educators to design and implement a comprehensive human

  resource strategy that shall target specific factors to encourage

  medical students to choose job positions in rural areas.'
affiliation: 'Goel, S (Corresponding Author), Post Grad Inst Med Educ \& Res, Dept
  Community Med, Chandigarh, India.

  Goel, S (Corresponding Author), Post Grad Inst Med Educ \& Res, Sch Publ Hlth, Chandigarh,
  India.

  Goel, Sonu; Dhirar, Nonita; Sangwan, Garima; Thakur, Kanchan, Post Grad Inst Med
  Educ \& Res, Dept Community Med, Chandigarh, India.

  Goel, Sonu; Dhirar, Nonita; Sangwan, Garima; Thakur, Kanchan, Post Grad Inst Med
  Educ \& Res, Sch Publ Hlth, Chandigarh, India.

  Angeli, Federica; Ruwaard, Dirk, Maastricht Univ, Fac Hlth Med \& Life Sci, Care
  \& Publ Hlth Res Inst, Dept Hlth Serv Res, Maastricht, Netherlands.'
article-number: e0210251
author: Goel, Sonu and Angeli, Federica and Dhirar, Nonita and Sangwan, Garima and
  Thakur, Kanchan and Ruwaard, Dirk
author-email: sonugoel007@yahoo.co.in
author_list:
- family: Goel
  given: Sonu
- family: Angeli
  given: Federica
- family: Dhirar
  given: Nonita
- family: Sangwan
  given: Garima
- family: Thakur
  given: Kanchan
- family: Ruwaard
  given: Dirk
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210251
files: []
issn: 1932-6203
journal: PLOS ONE
keywords-plus: DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES; HEALTH; RECRUITMENT; CHALLENGES; RETENTION
language: English
month: JAN 10
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '48'
orcid-numbers: 'Goel, Sonu/0000-0001-5231-7083

  Angeli, Federica/0000-0003-4010-3103

  Ruwaard, Dirk/0000-0003-4887-8413'
papis_id: 88b0d28022effafd3f9a9d498465fa5c
ref: Goel2019factorsaffecting
researcherid-numbers: 'Goel, Sonu/F-7956-2010

  '
times-cited: '5'
title: Factors affecting medical students' interests in working in rural areas in
  North India-A qualitative inquiry
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000455483000066
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '9'
volume: '14'
web-of-science-categories: Multidisciplinary Sciences
year: '2019'