Physician recruitment and retention in Manitoba: results from a survey of physicians' preferences for rural jobs.

INTRODUCTION: Rural recruitment and retention continues to present challenges to health workforce planners. This paper reports and analyzes the results of a survey sent to physicians in Manitoba, eliciting their opinions regarding rural jobs.

METHODS: A survey was sent to all physicians in Manitoba. Part 1 of the survey included questions about background and demographic information; part 2 was a set of job satisfaction questions regarding respondents' current job; and part 3 included 2 sets of stated-choice questions eliciting preferences for a set of attributes relevant to rural recruitment and retention.

RESULTS: Of the 2487 physicians who received surveys, 561 (22.6%) responded. Respondents indicated that income, hours worked and on-call frequency are very important: overall job satisfaction increased with income and decreased with hours worked. Income, hours and on-call frequency were ranked "very important" by the largest proportions of physicians. The estimated compensation for on-call more frequent than 1-in-4 was very high (82% of average income), and additional hours worked were worth $183 per hour. Other attributes that were important included professional interaction, housing availability and community incentives during the first year, which were valued at 11%-31% of annual income.

CONCLUSION: Work-life balance is a key consideration for rural jobs, and there are incentives that can compensate for less desirable attributes.