Background:
There is a shortage of health professionals in Pacific Island states and territories, and a needin New Zealand for Pacific health professionals to serve Pacific communities.
Methods:
A cross-sectional postal survey was conducted to investigate retention of Pacific graduates.All graduates of Pacific ethnicity or nationality from the University of Otago in the years1994 to 2004 in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy and medical laboratory sciencewere included.
Results:
The response rate was 59% (75 out of 128). Only 7% of respondents were working in thePacific Islands (12% of non-residents and 4% of New Zealand residents), though theproportion in the whole cohort could be up to 20%. One third intended to work in Pacificcommunities in New Zealand or the Pacific Islands in the future. Factors that would favoursuch an intention were an adequate income, job availability, and good working conditions.
Conclusions:
Retention of graduates in the Pacific Islands is poor and measures to improve retention areneeded.