MEDICAL educator Dr Maree Toombs says many of her medical students think they will fall off the planet if they drive past Ipswich.

The University of Queensland Rural Clinical School's director of indigenous health knows how difficult it can be attracting doctors to regional and remote areas.

A recent report has shown the school's strategy of training doctors rurally is helping to build the rural workforce and target the shortage of country doctors.

Commissioned by the University of Queensland and published in the Medical Journal of Australia, the report provides evidence that could help to tackle the uneven distribution of doctors between urban and rural areas.

UQ Rural Clinical School head professor Geoff Nicholson and research director associate professor Srinivas Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan led the study.

They looked at the background of UQ medical graduates and followed their careers to determine what led to their final practice location.

Professor Nicholson said the study showed that students from regional and rural backgrounds who did at least a year of their medical training at a rural clinical school were more likely to practise outside urban areas.

"The exposure to high-quality rural training at a rural clinical school enhanced the probability of that graduate practising rurally," he said.

"The findings reinforce the need for medical schools to have a strong rural presence. Without it, we run the risk of losing medical graduates to metropolitan areas," Professor Nicholson said.

He said these findings could influence government policy and possibly attract funding to regional and remote training programs.

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Medical school treats rural doctor shortage