Welcome to Going Rural Health News! Going Rural Health News is the publication of new and relevant information about all things related to rural clinical placements, education and rural health, from the Going Rural Health team. Team members are located in Ballarat, Shepparton and Wangaratta.

The big news this month in health is obviously the vaccination statistics. Most of our rural sites are now over 85% double vaccinated (see Victorian vaccination data HERE for weekly updates for each town/city), with many locations as high as 90 and 95%. The result of these amazing figures for the community and health care can be seen clearly as COVID-related hospitalization and ICU statistics are dropping steadily, even in areas with high COVID numbers, and even when COVID cases are not reducing at the same rate. As advertised since the vaccinations were released, vaccination for COVID-19 is, in the main, about stopping serious illness and protecting vulnerable members of the community - most people in hospital with COVID are either not or incompletely vaccinated. This is all welcome news for rural areas as the state and the country open up for travel again. 

 The Going Rural Health team

Going Rural Health student support

Rural Placements wanted!

Rural Job Vacancies

Going Rural Health Extended Rural Immersion Clinic (ERIC)

The Going Rural Health Blog

NEMEN - North East Medical Networking

Going Rural Health Education & University of Melbourne Department of Rural Health Webinars

External Education & Resources

Going Rural Health and University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) Research

Going Rural Health Website

NOTE: Support continuing for 2022-2024

Going Rural Health supports students to complete rural clinical placements. Support includes financial assistance, subsidised accommodation in selected areas, education, mentoring support, student activities, & cultural training.  For financial assistance, eligible students may only receive EITHER subsidised accommodation at University of Melbourne owned housing (where available, subject to availability) OR a financial payment for their placement (not both). Financial payment is calculated per day of attendance at placement.

More information on the Going Rural Health Student Support Scheme, including how to apply & eligibility criteria, is available HERE.

As always, we are trying to ensure that students get the best placement experience possible. Please help us to do this by directing students to complete our Student Placement Survey. It is a short online survey that should only take students 10-15 minutes to complete.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a backlog of placements for universities for many disciplines, which will end up leading to delays in students graduating, and as a result less health professionals available for the workforce.

Do you think your organisation might be able to host a nursing or allied health student (or two)? Going Rural Health can help you develop placements and support placement students.

For more information please contact Trish Thorpe at  trish.thorpe@unimelb.edu.au

The team are now providing another platform for rural and regional organisations to advertise their employment opportunities to our network. Please feel free to send the details of any vacancies to Trish Thorpe at trish.thorpe@unimelb.edu.au

Physiotherapist wanted - Goulburn Valley Physiotherapy

We are searching for the right person to join our growing team. ​The successful candidate will be a keen learner who is happy to be part of a team.

Goulburn Valley Physiotherapy is an established and growing private practice based in Shepparton. We have three sites including our main clinic, Aquamoves (Council Leisure Centre) and Numurkah clinic. We provide quality, evidence based physiotherapy treatment for a predominantly sports and musculoskeletal caseload. We have links into the Murray Bushrangers and Mooroopna Football Clubs. We have access to experienced staff, a fully equipped gym, hydrotherapy pool and modern equipment including dynamometry and force plates to ensure that we can achieve the best results for our clients.

Qualifications & experience

•  Bachelor of Physiotherapy or equivalent

 Tasks & responsibilities

• Provide quality physiotherapy to clients with a range of sports injuries and musculoskeletal conditions
• May be involved with running group exercise sessions
• May assist with student supervision

Benefits

• Ongoing professional development and mentoring
• Access to quality equipment such as a fully equipped community gym, hydrotherapy pool, AxIT system (dynamometry and force plates)

Please see the job ad on Seek HERE.

For more information visit the website at https://gvphysio.com.au/ or contact Brenton Kiel at brenton.kiel@gvphysio.com.au  or phone: 03 5821 7486.

In 2021, Going Rural Health have organised a new 'Extended Rural Immersion Clinic' (ERIC) for physiotherapy students.  This will continue for 2022.

ERIC students complete multiple consecutive rural placements over an extended period, from 10-20 weeks, to immerse the students in the rural community. Emerging research evidence shows that immersion placements for nursing and allied health students are more likely to result in students working in rural locations.

If your organisation would like to participate in this program, please contact the Going Rural Health team at going-ruralhealth@unimelb.edu.au

Did you know that Going Rural Health has a blog? The blog contains posts on relevant rural, rural health, student placement, and education topics. There are also posts about self-care, particularly relevant for students on rural placement. Authors are Going Rural Health health professional staff, with the occasional guest blogger.

Our most recent blog posts can be accessed below. New blog posts are posted on our Facebook page and tweeted on Twitter.

An exciting opportunity for Medical Students and Junior Doctors has been developed in North East Victoria where local doctors have designed events to welcome new and returning arrivals into the medical community. NEMEN - North East Medical Networking, is a chance for students and professionals to learn from local specialists, ask questions of senior clinicians and get to know the medical community in the region.

There are still a few tickets left for the last event for the year - Mr Andrew Gogos, renowned Neurosurgeon and Spine Surgeon will be presenting at NEMEN on 29th November at 6.30pm in Wangaratta. For further information on NEMEN or to secure your ticket for the 29th, please visit our website www.gvrth.org.au

Online Going Rural Health Education

Going Rural Health have a new Learning Centre on the Going Rural Health website. Access the Learning Centre HERE. 

Participants will need to register for the website, log-in and enroll in courses. Certificates of completion will be automatically generated upon successful completion of courses. If you have any problems with this process please contact the team at going-ruralhealth@unimelb.edu.au

Courses will be added as they are released, but the site currently has 7 courses live:

• Online Introduction to Rural Practice: this is our updated course introducing students and new staff to practicing in a rural community. Great for those new to rural health.
• Wellbeing and Resilience: an updated version of our Resilience module, the course has been moved to the Learning Centre for easier access. Health professionals - including health students - as a group don't tend to look after themselves well; this course gives insight and tips as to how to look after ourselves better.
• Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback: This is a combination of our original two separate courses (Giving Feedback, and Receiving Feedback), as much of the content was similar. Provides tips to better receive feedback, especially if it is negative, and ways to provide more effective feedback to staff and students.
• Communication: Tools to optimise your communication skills and ensure the perceived message is the intended message.
• Social Media Posting for Health Professionals. A package, particularly for young health students or experienced health professionals new to social media, that discusses the pitfalls and risks associated with social media posting on various platforms.
• Responding Effectively to Upset and Complaining Patients or Family. This course discusses methods to work with these individuals for best outcomes.
• NEW: Critical Thinking & Clinical Reasoning. This topic discusses what critical thinking is and how to implement into your everyday practice as a health practitioner.

Online Cultural Training - for Students ONLY

Going Rural Health, in collaboration with a Yorta Yorta traditional custodian from the Shepparton region, have developed an online cultural training course for students. The course can be accessed via our website HERE.

Education - December 2021

Going Rural Health education is winding down for the year. Details of education for 2022 will be available soon.

Cultural Competency in Aboriginal Health Training

All virtual and face to face cultural training is complete for the year. We are hoping that face to face workshops will recommence in early 2022. Watch this space for more details.

Please contact the education team via the Going Rural Health email address: going-ruralhealth@unimelb.edu.au  for details of all education, if any issues with bookings, or to book a virtual session from the education list at Education topics.

New Interdisciplinary Graduate Education & Learning (NiGEL) Series

Going Rural Health introduced a new free education series for graduates and early career health professionals in 2021. This series was intended to support new graduates and early career professionals to develop their transferable skills and non-discipline-specific knowledge in health care. 

After discussions with multiple health service staff, these sessions will be recorded and accessible soon via the Going Rural Health Learning Centre as part of a learning series (NIGEL Series). A discussion board will be made available to participants for some topics, to simulate the conversations which would normally occur in a live event. This will be monitored periodically by Going Rural Health staff.

For more information please contact:

Trish Thorpe trish.thorpe@unimelb.edu.au

Paediatric Condition Overview & Referral Criteria (RCH)

Each presentation will provide you with a brief overview of the condition as well as the key referral criteria to the Royal Children's Hospital.

Foot Orthosis and AFOs

Thursday 2nd December, 1-2pm

Presenter: Nicole Galea & Simon Lalor, Orthotic & Prosthetic Unit, RCH

Register HERE.

Free Student Resource From CRANA plus:

Adapting Self-Care Practices During Clinical Placement

The resource is for any student preparing for a placement in a rural or remote setting. To access the resource, visit the webpage HERE. 

Allied Health Clinical Educators Network Clinical Supervision Modules

The Allied Health Clinical Educators’ Network (AHCEN), has released some modules on training staff in clinical supervision. They include:

• Setting up a clinical supervision relationship
• Providing effective feedback
• Developing Clinical Reasoning through Supervision
• Supporting Wellbeing through Clinical Supervision

For more details see the document HERE.

Allied Health Paediatric Videoconference Series 2021

DECEMBER: Thursday 9th December 2021, 1-2pm.

Topic: Autism Spectrum Disorder - what to look for and what to do. Presented by Presented by Sonia Marson - Speech Pathologist, Allied Health and Mental Health Departments

Book via the link HERE.

Head to Help: A Free Mental Health Service For All Victorians

This is a service available through the Primary Health Network (PHN), for Victorians of any age experiencing mental ill-health - whether they have a GP mental health plan or not. The service is FREE, and no appointments are required.

Phone: 1800 595 212 8.30am - 5pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays).

For more details see the website HERE.

NOTE: This is NOT a crisis service.

For urgent support call Lifeline on 13 11 14

Out of hours and weekends call Beyond Blue on 1800 512 348.

Yarning SafeNStrong - A New Counselling Service for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples

The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service has established Yarning SafeNStrong: a free and confidential counselling service for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The service is available 24 hours, 7 days a week to people and families who need to have a yarn with someone about their wellbeing.

Phone: 1800 959 563

For more information see the website HERE.

Three Rivers UDRH

Three Rivers UDRH supports health professionals, staff and students by offering free online courses. The following two courses are especially relevant:

Three Rivers UDRH Rural Clinical Placements – How to grow your own course .

Three Rivers UDRH Telehealth - Embracing Technology in Healthcare

Student telehealth placements resource

There is a great resource available from SARRAH about student telehealth placements. It is a copy of the presentation from a recent webinar. Access it via the link below:

SARRAH webinar student TH placements Robyn Gill

PHN resources

WestVic PHN and Murray PHN also have education available in regional and rural areas. See their websites for details of what is on in your region:

WestVic PHN: https://westvicphn.com.au/events-education/upcoming-events/

Murray PHN: https://www.murrayphn.org.au/events/

The Going Rural Health program sits within the University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) of The University of Melbourne. The UDRH undertakes a number of research projects, some of which relate to student placements - from both the student perspective, and of those who support students (supervisors and placement support staff).

Student Placement Survey

As previously mentioned, Going Rural Health are trying to ensure that students get the best placement experience possible. Please help us to do this by directing students to complete our Student Placement Survey. It is a short online survey that should only take students 10-15 minutes to complete.

Supervisor & Placement Support Staff Survey

Going Rural Health are undertaking a research project to gain a better understanding of rural clinical placements, from the perspective of those who support students (supervisors and placement support staff). Many of you will have already received an email from one of the Going Rural Health team members to invite you to participate, and to encourage you to share the invite with your colleagues. Visit the Going Rural Health webpage HERE for more details.

If you would like any further information on any of these projects, please contact the Going Rural Health team at going-ruralhealth@unimelb.edu.au .