Elliott Jasmine, Luk Michelle, Varshney Karan, Williams Kyle, Wright Julian
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
Aust J Rural Health. 2023 Oct;31(5):957-966. doi: 10.1111/ajr.13028. Epub 2023 Aug 8.
Australia has a doctor shortage in rural settings, and rural placements for medical students have an important role in increasing the likelihood of students staying in rural settings throughout their careers. However, to date there is limited research regarding medical student perceptions of rural placement quality.
We aimed to determine factors that impact the overall medical student experience during rural placements.
Cross-sectional survey.
Rural/remote clinical schools across Australia.
Medical students on rural/remote clinical placements for at least 6 months.
To assess factors impacting student experience on rural placements, we conducted a cross-sectional survey, known as the Australian Rural Clinical School Support Survey (ARCSSS) which was completed online by medical students across Australia. Demographic data were collected in addition to responses regarding academic teaching, extracurricular activities, and support services. Multiple choice and Likert scale questions were utilised.
A total of 107 responses to our survey were analysed. The majority of participants were female (66.4%), and in their middle years of clinical education (55.1%). Overall, respondents showed high levels of satisfaction with clinical school supervisors, and clinical education. A high proportion of respondents indicated minimal accessibility of health and other support services. While a large proportion of participants indicated satisfaction with the rural placements, it was demonstrated that students were generally dissatisfied with school wellness activities and extracurricular activities. Financial insecurity was noted.
The findings from our survey indicate there are numerous areas in which rural placements have been effective for medical students, and others in which improvement is needed. Furthermore, more research is required to better develop well-being initiatives that are effective in improving overall experience.
澳大利亚农村地区存在医生短缺的问题，医学生的农村实习对于提高他们在整个职业生涯中留在农村地区工作的可能性具有重要作用。然而，迄今为止，关于医学生对农村实习质量的看法的研究有限。
我们旨在确定影响医学生农村实习总体体验的因素。
横断面调查。
澳大利亚各地的农村/偏远临床学校。
参加农村/偏远临床实习至少6个月的医学生。
为了评估影响学生农村实习体验的因素，我们开展了一项横断面调查，即澳大利亚农村临床学校支持调查（ARCSSS），澳大利亚各地的医学生通过网络完成该调查。除了收集有关学术教学、课外活动和支持服务的反馈外，还收集了人口统计学数据。采用了多项选择题和李克特量表问题。
共分析了对我们调查的107份回复。大多数参与者为女性（66.4%），处于临床教育的中期阶段（55.1%）。总体而言，受访者对临床学校的督导人员和临床教育满意度较高。很大比例的受访者表示获得健康和其他支持服务的机会极少。虽然很大比例的参与者对农村实习表示满意，但结果表明学生们普遍对学校的健康活动和课外活动不满意。存在经济不安全的情况。
我们的调查结果表明，农村实习在许多方面对医学生是有效的，但在其他一些方面仍需改进。此外，需要开展更多研究，以更好地制定有效的福利举措，改善总体体验。
