Building business intelligence into health workforce research: a graduate outcome tracking system

Tracking medical students after graduation is necessary to demonstrate the effect of medical education initiatives on career choice and practice location decisions. This is particularly important for Australian rural clinical schools, which are required to demonstrate their contribution to developing a medical workforce that serves the health care needs of rural and remote communities. The task is difficult, as recent graduates are mobile until they complete specialty training and appear in specialist registers. Multiple sources of data exist for different purposes and not necessarily in compatible formats, making the task of collating and analysing more complex. As the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training project expands to include allied health, similar data will need to be collated for these professions.