UCRH research Dr Jodie Bailie is among a broad team who have published results of their national study looking at rural nursing and allied health placements during the latter stage of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Their work explored changes to rural nursing and allied health placements during the latter stage of the COVID-19 public health emergency. It focused on regional, rural and remote Australia and included nursing and allied health students with a scheduled University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) facilitated rural placement between 1 January 2022 and 31 October 2022.
While high-quality rural placements are known to influence nursing and allied health professional students’ intention to practice rurally post-qualification, however, there are limited data on rural training experiences during the latter stage of the public health emergency, including student perceptions of placement quality, satisfaction and rural practice intention.
The study, published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health found that rural nursing and allied health placements scheduled in 2022 were largely able to be undertaken in some form and were positive in shaping an interest in a rural health career.
Fear of contracting COVID-19, circulating illness, workforce shortages and health and safety measures were all contributing factors to rural placement changes, most commonly evident among placement tasks, experience of the local community, and connection with other students.
The work found that UCRHs can improve the sustainability of rural training during the latter stages of a public health emergency by advocating for longer placements, ensuring remote supervision and quarantine accommodation infrastructure are available, and rigorously preparing students to succeed in challenging learning environments.
