Development of 'rural week' for medical students: impact and quality report

Jonathan Newbury

qualifications: MD

contribution: original concept, literature review, wrote the first draft

position: Associate professor

Australia

Professor Jonathan Newbury has held the position of Professor of Rural Health at the University of Adelaide since February 2006. His previous academic responsibilities have been the Rural Undergraduate Support and Coordination program (1997 to 2006) and the Rural Clinical School (2002-2006) and he continues in part time general practice at the Investigator Clinic, Port Lincoln. Professor Newbury has undertaken substantial empirically based research, using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. His MD thesis was a randomised controlled trial of preventive Health Assessment of the people aged 75 years and over (75+HA). This research work included GP supervision of nurses providing home assessments was the Australian evidence base for the introduction of the Enhanced Primary Care policy and the Medicare item number for 75+HA. Internationally this evidence is included in the latest systematic review and meta-analysis of preventive aged care in primary health care. Professor Newbury's work in rural medical education has been part of the Australian governments Rural Health Strategy. While this is starting to deliver a new rural health workforce this is no longer seen as the only solution to adequate health workforce for rural and indigenous Australia. Hence his future research is directed to models of health service delivery in communities in partnership with Country Health SA. Through the development of these roles Professor Newbury brings an in-depth understanding of the relationships between clinical service delivery of primary health care and primary health care policy, especially in the areas of multi disciplinary practice and training, and workforce planning and training.

Susan Shannon

qualifications: PhD

contribution: devised survey tool, supervised data collection, statistical analysis, contributed to drafts

position: Senior lecturer

Australia

As the Evaluator for the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School, one of the 10 Rural Clinical Schools established in Australia to (longer term) address rural medical shortage, I am involved day to day in establishing what creates and sustains quality rural medical education. My research interests concern evaluation of learning in tertiary education (medical and other); online learning (for students and academics), and from my discipline area - architecture - how students learn, particularly in an online or digital environment. My webpage www.arch.adelaide.edu.au/~sshannon contains most of my recent research publications in full. I am particularly interested in hearing from other academics working in evaluation in medicine, especially in rural and remote medicine eduation.

Ms Vanessa Ryan

qualifications: BMid

contribution: original concept, designed the project, contributed to drafts

position: Lecturer

Australia

Melissa Whitrow

qualifications: PhD

contribution: designed the project, contributed to drafts

position: Lecturer

United Kingdom

Having previously worked in epidemiology and in rural health (at the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School) in Australia, I am currently working as a Career Development Fellow with the Ethnicity and Health Program of the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, Scotland. My work is focused on data analysis and field work for the DASH study (Determinants of Adolescent Social well-being and Health), a longitudinal study of teenagers from disadvantaged inner London schools.