General practice residents' career choices: are they compatible with a practice in a rural setting?

Background. Projections of medical demography show a decrease of number of doctors who practice in a rural setting and a low amount of general practitioners' facilities. Aim. To explore residents' career choices and to determine their terms to settle in rural areas. Methods. Qualitative study by groups interviews in five French cities with total of 33 residents. Thematic analysis was performed using the NVivo (R) software. Results. Personal life strongly influenced residents' career choices with a strong desire of free time. Residents considered working among a team rather than in a traditional group practice. They were interested by a practice in rural setting but countryside perceived as too far from urban centres and lacking of access to services. They also imagined the practice conditions as difficult and solitary. Many residents intended practicing in a "semi-rural" setting, the description of which could match with a significant part of the rural area. Conclusion. If this declared craze for practice in "semi-rural" setting was confirmed, forecasts for some rural areas could be relativized. Public authorities' attention should then be focused on rural areas far from urban centres and on territories characterized by lonesome medical practice.