Medical Practice in Rural Communities: Opinions and Attitudes of Clinical Medical Students in a Nigerian Tertiary Institution

Aim: To assess the attitude of clinical medical students in Obafemi Awolowo University towards rural medical practice in Nigeria. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out between July and September 2010, among the clinical medical students (400L, 500L and 600L). 130 subjects were selected by simple random sampling from the sample frame of 800 using the Abramson winpepi program software 2004. Data was collected with the aid of semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. The data was collated and analyzed with SPSS statistical software version 15.0.1 and Microsoft Excel (2007). Cross tabulation of results was done with chi-square test and statistical significance was set at p value <= 0.05. Results: The selected subjects were from the clinical classes namely 400L (N=32, 24.2%), 500L (N=45, 35.2%) and 600L (N=53, 40.6%). Most were males (N=80, 60.6%) and the rest were females (N=50, 37.9%). The majority of the respondents (95%) originated from the rural communities in their states of origin but less than 5% of them grew up in the rural communities earlier indicated. 8.5% (N=11) (p-value of 0.0001) of the respondents agreed to practice in the rural community with others indicating a preference for practice in semi-urban and urban areas. 66.1% (N=86) of the respondents would request for reposting if posted to rural communities for medical practice after graduation (p-value = 0.03). Conclusion: Most students expressed preference for practice in the urban areas. Intense efforts should be made by all stakeholders in encouraging rural medical practice.