Mayne Academy of Rural and Remote Medicine, Rural and Remote Medicine Clinical Unit, Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Theodore 4719, QLD, Australia.
Toowoomba Regional Clinical Unit, Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland Toowoomba, 6 Range Street, Mount Lofty, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Jul 29;24(1):805. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05791-7.
Most rural populations experience significant health disadvantage. Community-engaged research can facilitate research activities towards addressing health issues of priority to local communities. Connecting scholars with community based frontline practices that are addressing local health and medical needs helps establish a robust pipeline for research that can inform gaps in health provision. Rural Health Projects (RHPs) are conducted as part of the Doctor of Medicine program at the University of Queensland. This study aims to describe the geographic coverage of RHPs, the health topic areas covered and the different types of RHP research activities conducted. It also provides meaningful insight of the health priorities for local rural communities in Queensland, Australia.
This study conducted a retrospective review of RHPs conducted between 2011 and 2021 in rural and remote Australian communities. Descriptive analyses were used to describe RHP locations by their geographical classification and disease/research categorisation using the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems - 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes and the Human Research Classification System (HRCS) categories.
There were a total of 2806 eligible RHPs conducted between 2011 and 2021, predominantly in Queensland (n = 2728, 97·2%). These were mostly conducted in small rural towns (under 5,000 population, n = 1044, 37·2%) or other rural towns up to 15,000 population (n = 842, 30·0%). Projects mostly addressed individual care needs (n = 1233, 43·9%) according to HRCS categories, or were related to factors influencing health status and contact with health services (n = 1012, 36·1%) according to ICD-10 classification.
Conducting community focused RHPs demonstrates a valuable method to address community-specific rural health priorities by engaging medical students in research projects while simultaneously enhancing their research skills.
大多数农村人口的健康状况明显较差。参与式社区研究可以促进针对当地社区优先健康问题的研究活动。将学者与正在解决当地健康和医疗需求的社区基层实践联系起来，有助于建立一个强大的研究渠道，为弥补健康服务提供方面的差距提供信息。农村卫生项目（Rural Health Projects，RHPs）是昆士兰大学医学博士课程的一部分。本研究旨在描述 RHPs 的地理覆盖范围、涵盖的健康主题领域以及开展的不同类型的 RHP 研究活动。它还提供了澳大利亚昆士兰州农村社区健康优先事项的有意义的见解。
本研究对 2011 年至 2021 年在澳大利亚农村和偏远社区开展的 RHPs 进行了回顾性审查。使用描述性分析，根据国际疾病分类和相关健康问题-第十次修订版（ICD-10）代码和人类研究分类系统（HRCS）类别，按地理位置分类和疾病/研究分类描述 RHP 地点。
2011 年至 2021 年期间共开展了 2806 项符合条件的 RHPs，主要在昆士兰州（n=2728，97.2%）。其中大部分在人口少于 5000 人的小农村镇（n=1044，37.2%）或其他农村小镇（人口最多 15000 人，n=842，30.0%）进行。根据 HRCS 类别，项目主要解决个人护理需求（n=1233，43.9%），或根据 ICD-10 分类与影响健康状况和与卫生服务接触的因素有关（n=1012，36.1%）。
开展以社区为重点的 RHPs 通过让医学生参与研究项目，同时提高他们的研究技能，展示了一种有价值的方法，可以解决社区特定的农村健康优先事项。
