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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 7
Publication Date: July 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.87.10623. Fadilah, M. (2021). Factors Impacting Sumatran Private Medical Students Inclination to Work in Rural Areas. Advances in Social
Sciences Research Journal, 8(7). 392-401.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Factors Impacting Sumatran Private Medical Students Inclination
to Work in Rural Areas
Mariatul Fadilah
Dr., M.A.R.S., Sp.DLP., Ph.D.
Departement of Public Health and Community Medicine
Faculty of Medicine Sriwijaya University
ABSTRACT
At present the progress of Indonesia's health currently has significant problems
with the unequal distribution of doctors in rural areas; doctors are only
concentrated in urban areas. The environment and policies at private universities
have a big influence on the educational process, which causes the low interest of
private medical students to work in rural areas. Getting the right results on the
pattern of interest in private medical students to work in rural areas will ultimately
help policymakers to resolve differences in the distribution of doctors in Indonesia.
This quantitative analytical study was conducted at 12 private medical faculties on
the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The total sample obtained was 446 active private
medical students in 2016 from a total population of 5,106 students. Data were
collected by questionnaire and analyzed using software namely SPSS. From the
results of the binary logistic regression analysis, there are four dominant factors of
private students that affect the interest in working in rural areas. Then a
multivariate logistic regression analysis using the enter method was conducted that
the tendency of medical students to work in rural areas was 58% for private
universities. By using patterns and student acceptance variables, it is expected to
increase the interest of private medical students working in rural areas, and
ultimately be able to distribute doctors equally in Indonesia.
Keyword: Doctor’s contribution, equity, student interest, rural areas.
INTRODUCTION
The development of Indonesia's health sector currently has a very significant problem with
access to health services in the form of uneven distribution of human resources, namely health
care workers.(1) There are very many doctors in Indonesia. However, most doctors work in
urban areas. Therefore many islands and underdeveloped areas in Indonesia have inadequate
numbers of health workers.(2)
The environment and policies at private universities influence the educational process, which
basically influences private medical students to develop different goals and desires. Thus
producing various doctors is a study not yet developing a description or observation of the
pattern in which medical students from private institutions express their interest in working in
rural areas.
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393
Fadilah, M. (2021). Factors Impacting Sumatran Private Medical Students Inclination to Work in Rural Areas. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 8(7). 392-401.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10623
In research Argentine medical students found that the following factors and characteristics
were related to interest in medical practice in rural areas: gender (women more likely than
men), older age, having parents who did not graduate from college, exposure or services in
high malnutrition areas, focus on pediatrics and high altruistic motivation.
(3)
The research shows that 9% of medical students from private institutions are interested in
working in rural areas. With the explanation that 5 students (9.2%) out of 54 private tertiary
education students studied were ready to work in rural areas after graduation. There were also
46 students who wanted jobs after graduation, and only three (6.52%) who wanted to work in
rural areas, and 5% of students who expressed interest in working in rural areas in the long
term.(4)
This study looks at the factors that differentiate the patterns of medical students who show an
interest in working in rural areas for the Faculty of Private Medicine in being able to help the
right policy maker to resolve the disparity in the distribution of doctors in Indonesia and
increase our knowledge in this matter. The island of Sumatra was chosen as the location of the
study because there were medical students from the private Faculty of Medicine.
The purpose of this study is to determine the pattern of acceptance of medical students in
private tertiary institutions and increase interest in working in rural areas
METHOD
This type of research is quantitative analytic design. This research was conducted in
Palembang. The population of this research is preclinical medical students from 12 private
medical faculties in Sumatra. The results were calculated according to attendance data from
each university in July 2016. All population units were taken as sample units (saturated
samples), therefore there were 446 active private medical students in 2016 out of a total
population of 5,106 students.(5)
In this research, the data collected is secondary data. The results of the questionnaire were
distributed and collected through the Google Form application.
The inclusion criteria were preclinical medical students who were registered at the private
medical faculty in Sumatra and agreed to answer the questionnaire in full. The exclusion criteria
used were preclinical medical students who were registered at a private medical faculty in
Sumatra and did not agree to answer the questionnaire or participate in this study. Analysis of
the pattern of acceptance of medical students in private tertiary institutions to work in rural
areas using multivariate logistic regression analysis with the enter method.
The dependent variable in this study is students' interest to work in rural areas and the
independent variable is a factor that influences the interest of medical students to work in rural
areas. Descriptive statistics and normality tests are performed, followed by multiple linear
regression to model the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent
variable. Confounding potential is controlled by using multivariate logistic regression analysis
by analyzing the relationship of all variables simultaneously. Statistically significant results
were defined as p <0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics Base
22.0.(6)
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 7, July-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
RESULT
In this study the average age of students in private tertiary institutions was 21 years starting
from 18 years and a maximum age of 36 years. In terms of gender, the majority of students were
female (309 students [69.3%]). Most students are in their third year of college (180 students
[40.4%]), single (268 students [60.1%]), and use family funds to finance their education (426
students [95.5%]) .
Table 3.1. Frequency Distribution of Private Medical Students by Age, Gender, Level of
Education, Marital Status and Source of Funding+
Characteristics Private Universities
Number
(n)
Percentage
(%)
Age
Mean ± SD
Median
Minimum
Maximum
21.25 ± 1,25
21 years
18 years
26 years
Gender n %
Male 137 30.7
Female 309 69.3
Significance p<0.0001
Year of study n %
First Year 42 9,4
Second Year 49 11,0
Third Year 175 39,1
Fourth Year 180 40,4
Marital Status n %
sSingle 268 60,1
In relationship 177 39,7
Married 1 0,2
Source of
Funding for
Education
n %
Family 426 95,5
Scholarship 18 4,0
Study loan 1 0,2
Part time job 1 0,2
Source: Results of current study obtained following statistical treatment of data from
questionnaire. +Refers to source of funding needed to finance medical education of survey respondents
The values in table 3.2 show that the higher the mean score (%), the greater the influence of the
corresponding variables on students' interest in working in rural areas. In other words, the
higher the percentage, the higher the interest in working in rural areas.
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395
Fadilah, M. (2021). Factors Impacting Sumatran Private Medical Students Inclination to Work in Rural Areas. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 8(7). 392-401.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10623
Table 3.2. Mean score of each questionnaire’s item
Factors NB Variable Description Private
College
Predisposing (X1) Background or experience of living in villages. 67.94%
(X2) Experience of visiting rural area 71.41%
(X4) Student’s lifestyle 70.57%
(X3) Travelling hobby 74.83%
(X5) Social motive or reasoning 75,90%
Mean 72.13%
Enabling (X13) Village size 70.01%
(X15) Curriculum in the university about rural area 70.07%
(X14) University location 68.44%
(X8) Family economic status 69.06%
(X7) Income/aid/incentive potential 76.74%
(X9) Community culture in rural area 74.38%
(X6) Facility or infrastucture in rural area 76.63%
(X10) Carreer opportunity 77.97%
(X11) Academic opportunity 77.41%
(X12) Geographical condition of rural area (considered
from physical condition, security, and people’s
density)
78.42%
Mean 73.91%
Reinforcing (X17) School obligation to work in rural area 70.74%
(X19) Proximity of the location to the spouse 67.60%
(X16) Government regulation about working in rural
area
75.00%
(X18) Proximity of the location to the family 75.34%
Mean 72.17%
Mean 72.74%
Source : The result of processing questionnaire using SPSS 18.
Table 3.3. Variables that simultaneously affect interest to work in rural areas for private
university