Longitudinal Placement of Students in Rural General Practice

Background: Concerns about rural workforce shortage have led to government funding of rural clinical schools and the subsequent development of a number of innovative educational programs. In mid-May 2007 the Wagga Wagga campus of the UNSW Rural Clinical School developed one such program. This program involved the placement of fifth year medical students completing their psychiatry, general practice, dermatology and ENT term in a rural setting in towns with a population of between 2,000 and 6,000 people. Curriculum: The Primary Care and Psychiatry eight week terms of the UNSW Year V medical curriculum were adapted to fit within a term that combined teaching in a large regional centre with extended rural general practice placement. Evaluation of the Intervention: Implementation of the term involved overcoming potential problems such as availability of accommodation in rural areas, increased workload of already busy rural practitioners and access to the specialist education activities available in larger centres. Discussion: The term proved valuable for students both in terms of clinical material and in developing a greater understanding of rural issues. Students gained broad clinical experience from the term and more responsibility than might have been possible in a larger rural or urban centre.