RESUMEN
Objective: to understand and explore the perceptions of medical students towards their intention to practice in underserved areas and to identify the barriers restricting them to take up rural service
Material and Methods: 12738 medical undergraduate students from five different medical institutions were requested to fill questionnaires during May 2012 to April 2013. SPSS version 17 was used for analysis. Unpaired t test and Chi-square [x[2]] test were applied
Results: majority 1719 [64.6%] were not willing to practice in rural area. Rural-background students were more likely to indicate willingness for rural practice [p<0.001]. 'Easy/stress free life' and 'being respected as a doctor' were gender wise statistically significant potential benefits of working in a rural area. Connectivity problems, absenteeism of support staff, available living facilities, distant hometown, social life, low recognition of work, prestige of the job, sense of fulfilment, lack of good physical work environment, security problems and lack of recreational facilities were found to be statistically significant [p<0.001 ]. Seventy seven percent of males and almost seventy five percent of females identified "low salary" as an underlying factor
Conclusion: in spite of having positive view towards the importance of rural health care, certain aforementioned barriers prevent medical students to serve in rural areas. The findings can be utilized to design or modify the specific strategies to tackle the crisis of doctors in rural India