Abstract
This study aimed to determine the level of confidence in medical and public-health competency, and
identify the relationship between such confidence with the Collaborative Project to Increase Production of
Rural Doctor (CPIRD) programme, regional medical school graduation and individual attributes. A crosssectional survey was conducted amongst newly medical graduates, who were making a contract with the
Ministry of Public Health for compulsory rural service in 2012, by using self-administered questionnaires.
Factor analysis and multiple regression were applied for data analysis.
The results showed that medical graduates were more confident in communication skill and
interprofessional collaboration, but less confident in obstretics, public-health and administrative competency.
Doctors in the CPIRD programme and those graduating from regional medical schools were more
confident in operative procedure skill and general medical knowledge than graduates in the normal track
and those graduating from medical schools in Bangkok and vicinity. In addition, being male and rural
high school graduation tended to increase the confidence in public-health and administrative competency.
Likewise, increasing age had a tendency to enhance the confidence in obstetrics competency.
