Abstract
• The critical shortage of the rural medical workforce in Australia continues. • There is pressure on medical schools to produce not only more doctors, but to supply them in geographical areas of need. • The latest policy to tackle these problems will increase medical student numbers while the supply of clinical teachers and patients for teaching remains static. • This challenges the traditional apprenticeship model for learning medicine. • Coupled with this is the requirement of medical schools to provide compulsory rural clinical placements for all students. • The success of rural clinical schools and University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) is increasingly apparent, but they must find new strategies to maintain a quality clinical experience and exposure to rural lifestyle for all medical students. • The dilemma is providing this quality rural experience to all medical students in the immediate future. • We suggest approaches to meet this challenge at a policy, organisational, student and teaching level.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 669-671 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Medical Journal of Australia |
Volume | 188 |
Issue number | 11 |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jun 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |