RURAL placements do make health students more interested in taking on positions in remote communities, according to survey findings presented at the Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health on Wednesday.
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Flinders University’s Remote Allied Health lecturer Annie Farthing said about 3200 medical students took part in the survey in which they were asked if they would consider taking on a rural placement. 531 of these students were already completing a rural placement.
Rural students were more likely to be satisfied with the indigenous cultural training they received, and were also happier with the accommodation they were supplied. Their placements tended to be longer, although Ms Farthing said there would likely be a connection between the distance travelled to go to these placements.
They were slightly less likely to be satisfied with the educational resources they were supplied.
Students’ comments that often were repeated in the survey included “I felt more valued here than anywhere else I have done”, and the enjoyment in participating in community events. It felt easier for students to do that in rural areas, the lecturer said.
She presented this response from a survey; “thank you for coordinating my placement. I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to come out to gain an idea of what rural practice would be like. I wanted to do this before committing to a rural or remote program and I am now quite certain that I will be pursuing a graduate position in remote Australia.”
Masters student Ebony Butler presented findings into the work values of rural and remote professional practice, and compared it to those who wanted to work in urban areas.
There was a difference between the values of providing service, and the value of prestige.
According to her own survey results, practitioners focusing on providing a beneficial service were 1.2 times more likely to work in rural and remote communities.
Ms Butler said it was not a large number, but that the survey might have been affected by the fact the major of students surveyed were from James Cook University, which had a focus on regional and rural placements.
The session’s chairperson Dr Denis Lennox said that he had not used the word ‘value’ before, but that general practice in rural areas should be considered prestigious, and “not perceived as a second rate option”.
