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.

Another busy year is drawing to a close, and next year promises to be even busier. The team are doing their best to accommodate the increased demand for rural placements, including creating and supporting new placements. Please contact the team if you feel you are in a position to host extra student placements, or think the team may be able to support you to do so.

Have a happy, healthy and joyous Christmas season. The university is closed between Christmas and New Year's, and reopens with limited staff on the 4th of January. The next newsletter will be released at the end of January. Contributions welcome!

 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

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

Yarram & District Health Services - Grade 1 or 2 Social Worker

Yarram & District Health Services in Gippsland are looking for a graduate social worker. See the following document for more details HERE.

“The RUPSEY Centre” - Speech Pathologist

The Rupsey Centre is seeking expressions of interest for a Speech Pathologist to join our team. The Rupsey Centre provides centre, home and school based intervention within Nathalia, Shepparton and surrounds.

This position would suit someone looking for flexibility in their home / work life. This position is also suitable for a new graduate who is interested in a broad caseload.

Expressions of interest are sought from someone interested in:

• Adult / Paediatric Clients (according to interest and skill)

• Clinical Supervision / Support to upskill in client intervention (as required)

• Varied supported case load

• Flexible work location – home or office based

• Pay rate based on experience

For the right person this position is flexible in hours and days and would ideally suit someone returning to the work force or a clinician wishing to broaden their intervention skill base.

Please contact Tammy on 0408328900 with any questions or for a discussion or email The.Rupsey.Centre@gmail.com .

Applications by 21/12/21.

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

The Going Rural Health Blog is taking a hiatus in 2022. It's going to be an extremely busy year with student placements. Updates and information will continue to be released via this newsletter.

Our most recent blog posts can be accessed below. 

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.
• 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 - January/February 2022

STAFF:

Introduction to Supervision Workshop

Wangaratta: 27th January, 9am - 12pm

Shepparton: 21st February, 10am - 1pm

More information and bookings via this link HERE.

Introduction to Perioperative Practice - A short course

***Limited subsidised places available.***

Course Duration: 14th Feb - 18th March 2022

Cost: Subsidised - $75 (valued at $250)

Content is delivered online, via participants working through a workbook and completing assessment tasks.

For more information, and to register, visit the link HERE.

STUDENTS:

Effective Communication Workshop

Where: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to attendees prior to the workshop.

When: Tuesday 14th February 2022, 10am - 12pm

More information, and to book, visit the link HERE.

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

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.

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 .