How rural is rural? The relationship between rural background of medical students and their career location intentions

Objective Rural background is associated with greater interest in rural practice. However, there is no universally agreed definition of ‘rural’ background used in medical school selection. This study explored the association between definitions of ‘rural’ background and students’ intended career locations. Design Prospective cohort study using survey data on career intention, hometown size, rurality of background, home address, high school and intended career location. Setting University of Auckland, New Zealand (NZ). Participants Commencing medical students 2009‐2017, inclusive. Main outcome measures Univariate associations between student background according to 7 definitions of ‘rural’, and 3 definitions of intended practice location based on population size: urban intention (>100 000); regional intention (25 000‐100 000); rural intention (