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Explanatory notes | Unnamed: 1 | Unnamed: 2 | Unnamed: 3 | Unnamed: 4 | Unnamed: 5 | Unnamed: 6 | Unnamed: 7 | Unnamed: 8 | Unnamed: 9 | Unnamed: 10
Method
Each state and territory medical board conducts an annual renewal of practitioner registration. As part of the registration renewal process, the survey questionnaire was sent to all medical practitioners in all jurisdictions. The results of the 2003 survey relate to the periods when the renewal notices and the surveys were dispatched. Survey data on practice activity refer to the four-week period before completion of the questionnaire by each medical practitioner.
Scope and coverage
The scope of the Medical Labour Force Survey is all practitioners registered with the medical board in each state/territory and eligible to practise. Coverage in some states excludes medical practitioners who registered for the first time during the current year and practitioners with a conditional registration.
Response rate
The responses to the AIHW Medical Labour Force Surveys in 2003 represented 71.4% of the medical registrations in all jurisdictions (Table A). The overall response rate is an approximation because some medical practitioners were registered in more than one state or territory and may have completed a questionnaire in just one state or territory. It is not known how often this occurred because it is not possible to match survey records across jurisdictions.
Table A: Estimated survey response rate, states and territories, 2003
 |  | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | Total
2003 response rate |  | 76.5 | 66 | 81.3 | 68.6 | 61.7 | 64.6 | 38.8 | 70.6 | 71.4
Source: Medical Labour Force Survey, 2003.
Notes on the AIHW labour force estimates
The figures produced from the Medical Labour Force Survey are estimates. Not all medical practitioners who were sent a questionnaire responded to the survey, and estimates of the whole practitioner population are based on survey data which have been weighted to match the available registration information. In 2003, complete registration data were available for five jurisdictions (but not for Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory). Where registration data were not available, estimation was made on the basis that survey non-respondents in each state/territory had the same characteristics as respondents.
Additional estimation has been made for survey respondents who provided incomplete labour force information, again on the basis that survey non-respondents had the same characteristics as respondents.
Clinicians and Non-clinicians
Since changes to the survey were made in 2000, practitioners have been able to indicate how many hours they spend in both clinical and non-clinical roles. The role in which the practitioners spent the most amount of time was used to determine which practitioners were 'clinicians' and which were non-clinicians in their main occupation.
Geographic classification
The Remoteness Area Structure of the ASGC, produced by the Australian Bureau of Satistics, has been used in these tables to present regional data for medical practitioners. The Remoteness Area Structure of the ASGC is based on the Accessibility/remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) where the remoteness index value of a point is based on the physical road distance to the nearest town or service in each of five population size classes based on the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. These classes are:
 | · Major cities of Australia
 | · [NAME] regional Australia
 | · Outer regional Australia
 | · Remote Australia
 | · Very remote Australia
Primary care practitioners
For the purposes of analysing Medical Labour Force Survey data, Primary care practitioners include practitioners recognised by Medicare as VRGPs, RACGP fellows and trainees and other practitioners whose main practice is unreferred patient attendances. Excluded are [NAME] care practitioners and trainees who work primarily as Hospital non-specialists. These practitioners are analysed in '4_Hospital non-specialists 2003.xls'.
Symbols and other usages
Throughout these tables, data may not add to the totals shown due to the estimation process for non-response.
Percentages may not add to 100.0 due to rounding.
Italics within a table denote a subtotal.
— | Nil or rounded to zero
. . | Not applicable
n.a. | Not available
[NAME] | Not publishable (Some cells have been supressed to protect confidentiality and/or indicate small cells that may not be statistically reliable)