Riding the wave: current and emerging trends in graduates from Australian university medical schools.

The number of domestic graduates from Australian medical schools is set to increase by 81% in 7 years, from 1348 in 2005 to 2442 by 2012. Including international students, medical school graduates will total almost 3000 by 2012. Planning must begin now to ensure that the significant flow-on effects of these increases are managed effectively. Most urgently, postgraduate medical training will require a substantial injection of resources to expand opportunities for clinical training, without compromising quality. Patterns of career choice by medical graduates and workforce supply levels must be monitored to ensure responsiveness to the effects of substantially larger, and more diverse, graduate cohorts.