The Australian journal of rural health
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Aust J Rural Health · Dec 2001
Rural interprofessional education: promoting teamwork in primary health care education and practice.
In a climate of increasing incentives to work effectively within a primary health care team, the ability of various health care professionals to collaborate comes into focus. The principles of effective teamwork can be learned and this learning is most effectively achieved in the field under the supervision of experienced preceptors. It is also enhanced if learners have the opportunity to participate actively in the team and do so from undergraduate level. ⋯ It outlines the policy underpinning the project's development. It provides a brief review of the associated evidence base, highlighting barriers to and enablers of interprofessional education. Lessons learnt during the implementation and evaluation of this project will guide efforts to extend the reach of interprofessional education across the primary health care sector.
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Aust J Rural Health · Dec 2001
Rural rotations for interns: a demonstration programme in South Australia.
The Commonwealth Government of Australia, through policy initiatives and increased funding, has placed significant emphasis on increasing undergraduate rural experiences for medical students. However, in the immediate postgraduate years, rural community based rotations are uncommon, with the vast majority of intern experiences remaining hospital based. Since 1997, Flinders Medical Centre, Flinders University and the rural communities of Cleve and Jamestown have run a preregistration rural intern-training position based in rural general practice. ⋯ The term provides a blend of hospital and community based experiences appropriate for junior doctors not yet familiar with ambulatory care. At the same time, the junior doctors have consistently reported a high-quality learning experience, with ready access to patients and procedural work. We describe the qualitative and quantitative methods we have recently introduced for evaluation of the programme.
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Aust J Rural Health · Dec 2001
Rural initiatives at the James Cook University School of Medicine: a vertically integrated regional/rural/remote medical education provider.
Building on the success of the former North Queensland Clinical School/Royal Australian College of General Practitioners collaboration in North Queensland, the James Cook University School of Medicine continues to develop a model of close collaboration with stakeholder groups that provides medical education services to dispersed communities in northern Australia. The flagship themes of the programme (rural & remote, Indigenous and tropical health) are essential to the regional mission to improve the health care of people in northern Australia. ⋯ An innovative curriculum design reinforces interest in and relevance to regional health needs. The present paper provides an overview of the roles and early progress of the new School of Medicine, with the aim of keeping rural doctors informed about the continuing development of a successful 'national standards/local collaboration and control' model of education service delivery.
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Aust J Rural Health · Dec 2001
Quality assurance and continuing education needs of rural and remote general practitioners: how are they changing?
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' (RACGP) 1998 Rural Quality Assurance and Continuing Education (QA & CE) Needs Assessment Project was designed to generate sufficient data to inform strategic planning for rural and remote GPs participating in the College's QA & CE Program. Results indicated that the demand for QA & CE activities has changed over the past 12 years. Three distinct streams of continuing education emerged, where once only one was researched. ⋯ However, differences between the CME needs identified suggested that national data could not be reduced to the local level. Data on CME in which rural and remote GPs felt underserviced, proved more useful in relation to other workforce variables such as age, length of service and gender. A broad 'rural set' of CPD topics was established, and the survey yielded information on learning format preferences that will be of use to providers of QA & CE activities for rural GPs across Australia.