‘I miss my family, it's been a while…’ A qualitative study of clinicians who live and work in rural/remote Australian Aboriginal communities

Abstract

Relocation to rural and remote communities to provide health services is a complex but rewarding process. Providing personal and professional support, to relocating clinicians resulted in an overall positive experience for the participants, where they increased their professional skills and developed personally. Living and working in the community increased their cultural competence. Barriers were overcome through effective communication, flexibility and teamwork. Funding for rural placements, such as these, is critical for rural and remote health services and should include long-term appropriate funding for mentoring and support.

Novice occupational therapists: Navigating complex practice contexts in South Africa

“…An example from this study is participants’ reports that their compulsory service year assisted them in developing cultural competency. This has similarly been reported by other rural and remote health practitioners (Irving, Short, Gwynne, Tennant & Blinkhorn, ) which demonstrates the limitations of educational approaches that are removed from actual contextual and clinical realities. However, it is important to acknowledge that students cannot be prepared for every practice scenario; thus fostering the development of resilience is argued as essential in undergraduate health professional education (McAllister & McKinnon, ).…”

Using teledentistry in clinical practice as an enabler to improve access to clinical care: A qualitative systematic review.

“…Providing professional and personal mentoring by giving expert advice to clinicians to build their capacity to provide a wide range of dental treatment has been found to be a useful strategy in the retention of healthcare workers in rural/remote locations. 5,6 The option to provide this support through a teledentistry program should be explored. The capacity for similar programs to support a new graduate program regardless of location should also be explored as programs can be delivered relatively cheaply.…”

“…Various government policies to encourage clinicians to consider a career in a rural location have included financial incentives, providing ongoing professional development, mentorship schemes and subsidising travel to professional development meetings have all been shown to increase the recruitment and retention in the short term. [4][5][6][7] However, making sure that inexperienced, newly qualified dental and oral health practitioners, working in rural and remote locations, have adequate clinical advice and support can be difficult to organise on a sustainable basis.…”

Strengthening Indigenous cultural competence in dentistry and oral health education: Academic perspectives

“…Significant opportunities exist with government and non‐government agencies to facilitate cultural immersion experiences for dentistry and oral health students in Australia. We have established a multifaceted collaboration with the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, NSW Health and other partners, involving School of Dentistry academics and students in conducting regular tele‐dentistry sessions, clinical field visits and health promotion projects to develop sustainable dentistry and oral health promotion services within Indigenous communities in NSW . Developing strong working relationships with additional Indigenous communities will provide the capacity to enhance cultural immersion experiences to improve Indigenous cultural competence of academics and students.…”