Student placements key to rural healthcare: Study

Rural placements could be the key to addressing a critical shortage of healthcare workers in regional Australia, according to a new study.
 
Research from the University of South Australia found rural exposure during study plays a vital role in where students choose to practice upon graduation.
 
The UniSA research found around half of the new allied health rural workforce were raised in cities, but almost 90% completed a rural placement during their studies.
 
Of the 264 graduates of podiatry, occupational therapy, or physiotherapy assessed, 40 were practising in rural areas, while 25 city-based allied health professionals had later moved to rural areas.
 
RACGP Rural Council GPs in Training Representative Dr Luke Franceschini told newsGP he’s spent several years working and training regionally, saying it has bolstered his understanding of medicine and practice.
 
‘It’s just as important as not spending all your time training in the one hospital because people do things differently, and it's important to get that breadth of experience,’ he said.
 
‘As a general practitioner in particular, you get to really be a generalist in the true sense of the word because you get to experience and participate in every aspect of the patient’s healthcare that you might not when your role is very defined.’
 
With seven million Australians now living in remote and regional communities, up to 28% of the country could be suffering from a severe shortage of medical professionals and treatments in their local areas.
 
‘When you’re not able to access, regular timely healthcare, your health is going to be all the more affected,’ Dr Franceschini says.
 
‘The expectation of how you can adequately manage and treat a condition from Melbourne and Sydney CBD is going to be very different compared to up on The Cape because of the resources that you have on hand.
 
‘There’s an expectation that when someone’s discharged from a tertiary centre that they can follow up quickly with their GP, but if there’s no GP to follow up with, that puts more burden the tertiary centres and so that they start to suffer.’
 
UniSA Rural Health Department researcher Dr Lee Puah said the study is further proof rural placements are crucial to addressing this shortage.
 
‘Every Australian deserves access to quality healthcare, yet Australians living in rural and remote communities experience challenges in accessing health services in comparison to Australians living in metropolitan centres,’ Dr Puah said.
 
‘This type of research can help us understand and plan future placements to help address the maldistribution of the workforce.’
 
The new research adds to a growing number of studies demonstrating the importance of regional experience throughout education, and the positive outcome it can have on both professionals and communities.
 
Dr Franceschini said for those who enjoy the regional lifestyle, a move away from cities can be an attractive solution, especially for recent graduates.
 
‘You’re often expected to be able to do a bit more and given the opportunity to do a bit more when you’re a student,’ he said.
 
‘Most people come away from their rural turn feeling very invigorated and excited because that’s the time actually we’re allowed to start doing things and start practicing as the doctors that they will be in one or two years.’
 
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GPs in training rural workforce