Abstract
The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia established the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School (SGRHS) as a joint venture to facilitate rural health professional education and research. Annually a cohort of medical students from the University of Adelaide volunteer and are placed in various SGRHS 'learning centres' throughout rural South Australia for the 5th year of their medical training. This article addresses the issues encountered in one of these 'learning centres' in Port Lincoln, rural South Australia. The challenge was to integrate five students into a general medical practice and the local hospital and to provide high quality medical education for the academic year. Medical practice, student and university requirements were identified and a range of strategies implemented to address these. To date, four groups of medical students have successfully completed their rural academic year in Port Lincoln since 2003. The local systems have evolved to allow five students to integrate into the practice and hospital using a range of teaching and learning methods and resources.
Highlights
Context: The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia established the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School (SGRHS) as a joint venture to facilitate rural health professional education and research
A requirement of the Rural Clinical School (RCS) funding is that 25% of Australian-origin medical students at each medical school spend one year of their clinical training in a rural location
The curriculum is determined by the Curriculum Committee of the medical school in Adelaide, who determined that the 5th year of the undergraduate program was the appropriate year for students to be placed in the RCS
Summary
Rural medical education: five medical students spend a year in rural Port Lincoln, Australia. Spencer Gulf Rural Health School, Port Lincoln, South Australia, Australia Submitted: 18 April 2006; Resubmitted: 15 August 2006; Published: 26 June 2007. Baillie S, Matena J, Yerxa J, Newbury J Rural medical education: five medical students spend a year in rural Port Lincoln, Australia. Rural and Remote Health 7: 586. (Online), 2007 Available from: http://www.rrh.org.au
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