Development of a common national questionnaire to evaluate student perceptions about the Australian Rural Clinical Schools Program

DeWitt, Dawn E.; McLean, Rick; Newbury, Jonathon; Shannon, Susan; Critchley, Jennifer

doi:10.22605/rrh486

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Similarly, previous research supports that health service staff enjoy learning from students 16,29,30 in particular, the contemporary knowledge and skills that students provide 15,27 . Shannon et al 34 also found that staff believed that it was important to expose students to rural careers as consistent with the findings of the current study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff

Walker

Forbes

2022

Australian J Rural Health

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Objective: To explore the impact of providing nursing and midwifery student placements from the perspective of regional, rural and remote health service staff involved in hosting students.Setting: Hospital and health services across regional, rural and remote southern Queensland. Participants: Thirty-six nursing and midwifery staff working in clinical and/ or management roles who were direct clinical supervisors of students or in leadership positions with responsibility for overseeing and supporting clinical placements. Design: Semi-structured interviews exploring the experiences and perspectives of nursing and midwifery health service staff who support student placements. Data were subject to thematic analysis. Results: Five key themes were identified as follows: (a) bringing new ideas and perspectives, (b) opportunities for development, (c) supporting the future rural workforce (d) impacts on workload and productivity and (e) strategies for balancing supervision. Conclusion:The results indicate that there are a range of perceived benefits and challenges of providing nursing and midwifery student placements within regional, rural and remote settings. The findings also indicate that there are opportunities to further support rural health services to optimise the positive impacts and mitigate the challenges of providing placements. To do so requires collaboration between health services and education providers to allocate students appropriately to health services and support health service staff. K E Y W O R D Sclinical education, clinical placement, health workforce, nursing and midwifery, rural health | INTRODUCTIONOngoing shortages of nursing and midwifery professionals persist within rural and remote settings despite increases in the nursing workforce nationally in Australia. 1,2 Despite these shortages, nursing and midwifery comprise a significant proportion of the Australian rural health workforce 3 and as such, comprise a large proportion of placements for health professional students. 4How to cite this article: Walker C, Forbes R. The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff

Walker

Forbes

2022

Australian J Rural Health

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“…The FRAME exit survey is distributed to medical students completing a year-long rural placement at an Australian RCS [ 13 , 14 ]. The survey collects demographic details, measures of student experiences and satisfaction, their career intentions, and preferred practice locations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The survey collects demographic details, measures of student experiences and satisfaction, their career intentions, and preferred practice locations. Details about the survey have been published elsewhere [ 13 , 14 ]. Informed consent to participate was provided at the commencement of the survey.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate rural medical training experiences and uptake of rural practice: a retrospective cohort study in South Australia

et al. 2023

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Background Rural medical training experiences provided by Rural Clinical Schools (RCS) can encourage future practice in rural locations. However, the factors influencing students’ career choices are not well understood. This study explores the influence of undergraduate rural training experiences on graduates’ subsequent practice location. Methods This retrospective cohort study included all medical students who completed a full academic year at the University of Adelaide RCS training program between 2013–2018. Details of student characteristics, experiences, and preferences were extracted from the Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators (FRAME, 2013–2018) survey and linked to graduates’ recorded practice location obtained from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA, January 2021). The rurality of the practice location was defined based on the Modified Monash Model (MMM 3–7) or Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS 2–5). Logistic regression was used to examine associations between student rural training experiences and rural practice location. Results A total of 241 medical students (60.1% females; mean age 23.2 ± 1.8 years) completed the FRAME survey (response rate 93.2%). Of these, 91.7% felt well supported, 76.3% had a rural-based clinician mentor, 90.4% reported increased interest in a rural career, and 43.6% preferred a rural practice location after graduation. Practice locations were identified for 234 alumni, and 11.5% were working rurally in 2020 (MMM 3–7; 16.7% according to ASGS 2–5). In adjusted analysis, the odds of working rurally were 3–4 times more likely among those with a rural background or lived the longest in a rural location, 4–12 times more likely among those preferring a rural practice location after graduation, and increased with the student’s rural practice self-efficacy score (p-value < 0.05 in all cases). Neither the perceived support, having a rural-based mentor, or the increased interest in a rural career were associated with the practice location. Conclusions These RCS students consistently reported positive experiences and increased interest in rural practice after their rural training. Student reported preference for a rural career and rural practice self-efficacy score were significant predictors of subsequent rural medical practice. Other RCS could use these variables as indirect indicators of the impact of RCS training on the rural health workforce.

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“…Therefore, rural Community-Based Medical Education should be led by clinical academics working in rural and remote communities, with time and resources to build an appropriate research infrastructure in these locations. [14,15] The Flinders Initiatives Flinders University has incorporated these four streams into its strategic response to Australia's rural medical workforce crisis. The Flinders University School of Medicine began in 1974 as the teaching and research arm of Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) in Adelaide, South Australia, now part of the Southern Adelaide Health Service (SAHS).…”

Section: The Four Streamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flinders University School of Medicine, Northern Territory, Australia: Achieving Educational Excellence along with a Sustainable Rural Medical Workforce

Worley

2008

MEDICC Review

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Introduction Medical schools today are being challenged to educate doctors who are willing and able to practice in areas of poverty and workforce need. In many countries, there is a shortage of doctors practicing in rural and remote communities. There is evidence that locating undergraduate medical education in rural areas increases the likelihood that graduates will choose to practice in underserved areas. Through its Parallel Rural Community Curriculum (PRCC), Flinders University School of Medicine (FUSM) now enables over 25% of its students to undertake an entire clinical year based in small rural communities supervised principally by rural family physicians.Objective The PRCC was conceived to provide a high quality educational intervention that would result in an increased number of students choosing to practice in rural and remote Australia. It was also designed to test the hypothesis that small rural and remote practices were capable of facilitating a full year of medical training at a standard comparable to that provided at a major tertiary hospital.Intervention Starting with eight students in four towns in 1997, the PRCC now places 30 students across 18 towns in rural Australia. The students simultaneously learn the disciplines of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and family medicine. At the end of the year, all Flinders students, regardless of training location, take the same comprehensive exam.Outcomes PRCC students improved their academic performance in comparison to their tertiary trained peers. This improvement has been consistent over the ten years studied. Seventy percent of the PRCC students have chosen to practice in rural locations, compared to 18 percent of tertiary-trained students. Over twelve years, the program has proved to be sustainable in a private practice environment with a workforce shortage.Conclusions Evaluation of the PRCC indicates that a rural community-based clinical education can provide a high quality academic experience for students as well as a sustainable solution to rural medical workforce maldistribution.

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Development of a common national questionnaire to evaluate student perceptions about the Australian Rural Clinical Schools Program

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff

The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff

Undergraduate rural medical training experiences and uptake of rural practice: a retrospective cohort study in South Australia

Flinders University School of Medicine, Northern Territory, Australia: Achieving Educational Excellence along with a Sustainable Rural Medical Workforce

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