Students Who Stay: Stories of Northern Medical Program Graduates and Place Integration.

Canada's persistent nationwide physician shortage is further complicated in remote, rural, and northern areas because a considerable majority of Canadian physicians choose to practice in larger urban centres, leaving many sparsely populated communities with inadequate access to physicians. Research into physician maldistribution clearly shows that increasing the supply of medical graduates alone will not improve the situation in rural and remote Canada. In addition to recruitment, processes that contribute to retention must be considered and integrated into strategies aimed at reducing physician maldistribution. There remains a lack of knowledge about the unique experiences of students who train in northern British Columbia (BC). The purpose of this research is to better understand the significant, influential, and transformational experience of northern BC-trained medical students and new physicians in order to better support northern communities in retaining a sustainable physical workforce. Qualitative data from interviews with seven NMP graduates currently practicing medicine in northern BC were analyzed. Strong themes related to students' backgrounds, characteristics of community, and experiences throughout their time in the NMP suggest that the evolution of individuals' attitudes and decisions prior to arriving in a community influence their ongoing process of integration and retention in place. --Leaf ii.