July 30, 2014
A country practice: medical students head to the bush for hands-on experience
UOW medical students will be spending the next year in country regions around NSW.
Four of the medical students with placements in the Southern Highlands are (from left) Emma Wills, Geoffrey Lester, Priyanka Anand and Paul Finighan.
Medical students from UOW’s Graduate School of Medicine (GSM) will be spending the next year in various country regions as part of their clinical placement program.
UOW has the only medical school in Australia that provides opportunities for all its students to undertake such a long-term placement in a rural or regional setting.
The year-long clinical placement program is a key component of the UOW medical curriculum, which has been designed with a strong focus on preparing doctors to practise in regional, rural and remote areas.
The GSM was established with a primary aim of helping to address the critical shortage of medical practitioners outside the major cities, and actively recruits students who have rural backgrounds. Making a difference and having positive impacts on people’s lives is a motivating factor for studying medicine for many of these students. All of the students have already undertaken prior study, experience and work in different settings.
Associate Professor Mark Wilson, who oversees the clinical placements program in his role, said the best way to encourage young doctors to practise medicine in rural communities after they graduate was to introduce them to life in a country town while they are students.
Professor Wilson said UOW operated 11 regional hubs for its medical students, whose clinical placements start mid-way through their 3rd year of training and continues until mid-way through their fourth year.
The hubs are in the Grafton, Illawarra (Wollongong), Shoalhaven (Nowra), Milton-Ulladulla, Southern Highlands (Bowral), Murrumbidgee (Griffith, Leeton and Narrandera), Murwillumbah, Byron-Ballina, Forbes-Orange, Mudgee and Broken Hill.
The first medical students graduated from UOW’s medical school in 2010 to continue their training as hospital interns. Of the four graduating cohorts a large percentage has elected to take their internships in regional and rural communities.
Media contact: Bernie Goldie, UOW Media Consultant, +61 2 4221 5942, + 61 412 454 124 or bgoldie@uow.edu.au.