Health professional students' rural placement satisfaction and rural practice intentions: A national cross‐sectional survey

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to profile students undertaking placements at University Departments of Rural Health (UDRHs) and investigate factors affecting students' satisfaction and intention to enter rural practice. Design: Cross-sectional survey comprising 21 core questions used by all UDRHs. Setting: Eleven UDRHs across Australia that support students' placements in regional, rural and remote locations. Participants: Medical, nursing and allied health students who participated in UDRH placements between July 2014 and November 2015 and completed the questionnaire. Main outcome measures: Key dependent variables were placement satisfaction and rural practice intention. Descriptive variables were age, gender, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) background, location of placement, healthcare discipline, year of study and type and length of placement. Results: A total of 3328 students responded. The sample was predominantly female (79%), the mean age was 26.0 years and 1.8% identified as ATSI. Most placements (69%) were >2 but ≤12 weeks, 80% were in Modified Monash 3, 4 or 5 geographical locations. Public hospitals and community health made up 63% of placements. Students satisfied with their placement had 2.33 higher odds of rural practice intention. Those satisfied with Indigenous cultural training, workplace supervision, access to education resources and accommodation had higher odds of overall satisfaction and post-placement rural practice intention. Conclusions: The majority of students were highly satisfied with their placement and the support provided by rural clinicians and the UDRHs. UDRHs are well placed to provide health professional students with highly satisfactory placements that foster rural practice intention.

Scoping the impact of curriculum and placement on the rural pharmacy workforce

“…12,24,30,32,34,43 However, these articles have limitations as most of them investigate intention immediately after exposure to rural practice and do not follow through to actual practice location after graduation. Although this scoping review has identified 31 articles with some relevance to this area, many of these articles are narrative and some have limitations in terms of very small sample sizes.…”

“…The results from all of these articles have indicated that rural placements have had a positive influence on students' intention to work rurally. 12,24,30,32,34,43 However, these articles have limitations as most of them investigate intention immediately after exposure to rural practice and do not follow through to actual practice location after graduation. 12,30,32,34,43 Consequently, it cannot be determined that rural clinical placements are having any impact on increasing pharmacist recruitment or retention in rural and remote locations.…”

“…12,24,30,32,34,43 However, these articles have limitations as most of them investigate intention immediately after exposure to rural practice and do not follow through to actual practice location after graduation. 12,30,32,34,43 Consequently, it cannot be determined that rural clinical placements are having any impact on increasing pharmacist recruitment or retention in rural and remote locations. In addition, articles have described the effect of rural and remote exposure on student placement (Domain 1); however, these articles are predominately narrative and represent single placement activities or programs.…”

“…Twenty-five articles broadly discussed rural placements, with seven including interprofessional learning, [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] four discussing community and cultural exposure 17,[25][26][27] and seven reporting on intention to practice in a rural area. 12,24,[28][29][30][31][32] Articles evaluating pharmacy students' rural placement programs illustrated that understanding pharmacy practice from a rural perspective, visits to rural health professionals and sites and the attitudes of their preceptors were essential for them to achieve satisfaction from their rural placement. [17][18][19]27,30,33,34 Positive changes in attitudes towards rural practice, interprofessional experience and Indigenous culture were also reported for students participating in untraditional pharmacy placements.…”

Medical student well‐being during rural clinical placement: A cross‐sectional national survey

“…Indeed, King et al 6 found that students who reported that their rural clinical placements had a positive impact on their well‐being were more likely to have intentions for rural internship. Furthermore, it was reported that positive experiences amongst a national sample of health professional students on rural placements were associated with increased intention to practise rurally in the future 10 . Drawing on these research findings, the current study was based on two premises: (a) that positive placement experiences are predictors of medical students’ intention to practise rurally in the future, and (b) that discovering the predictors of student well‐being on rural placements and addressing these issues in practice may improve students’ rural placement experiences and health 6,10,11 …”