Background: Part of the mandate for social accountability of medical schools is to address physician needs at the local, regional and national levels. We determined the work locations in 2014 of medical graduates of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and identified the characteristics and predictors of working in urban and rural areas of Canada and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).

Methods: We linked data from class lists, and alumni and postgraduate databases with data from the Scott's Medical Database to determine work locations in 2014 of MUN medical graduates from 1973 to 2008. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of working in urban and rural areas of Canada and NL.

Results: Of the 1864 graduates in our study, 1642 (88.1%) were working in Canada, 638 (34.2%) in NL, 217 (11.6%) in rural Canada and 92 (4.9%) in rural NL in 2014. Predictors of physicians working in Canada included having a rural background, being from NL and graduating in the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s. Predictors of physicians working in NL included having a rural background, being from NL, graduating in the 2000s and having done some or all of their residency training at MUN. Having a rural background and being a family physician were predictors of working in rural Canada. Having a rural background, being from NL, having done some or all residency training at MUN and being a family physician were predictors of working in rural NL.

Interpretation: Most MUN graduates were working in Canada in 2014, with about one-third remaining in NL and much smaller percentages working in rural communities, especially in rural NL. These findings have implications for the physician supply in NL.