Dr. Filomena Incitti, Dr. Leslie Rourke, Dr. James Rourke, MaryAnn Kennard
A survey was mailed to rural and urban family physicians in Ontario, Canada to compare the scope of practice and degree of personal and professional satisfaction of rural women family physicians with their rural male, urban female, and urban male counterparts. A total of 442 rural and urban family physicians responded. The findings suggest that rural women family physicians incorporate more professional activities into their practice, but are less satisfied, both personally and professionally, than urban women and men family physicians. The scope of practice of rural women family physicians is as broad as that of rural men, and they are more likely to attend births. The authors conclude that rural family practice provides a broad scope of practice but major recruitment and retention strategies are required to make rural practice more professionally and personally satisfying for both women and men family physicians.