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Aims: This commentary contends that research by higher degree research training is a sustainable strategy for capacity building the rural and remote health research workforce, provided they have equitable opportunity for access, participation and attainment., Context: The path for health professionals into academic roles, particularly in rural and remote areas, can be fraught. A strong research skill set might not form a significant component of a clinician's prior experience. Concurrently, university academic positions usually include the PhD as an essential qualification which is misaligned with the experience and skills of rural and remote applicants who are otherwise well-qualified., Approach: Higher degree researches are one mechanism for extending the research expertise and capabilities. However, non-traditional and remotely located cohorts such as the rural and remote health research workforce can face barriers to accessing, participating in and successfully completing formal research training. Barriers include the prevalence of the apprenticeship model of research training grounded in assumptions of colocation and face-to-face learning and supervision and a focus on the binary relationship between supervisors and students. In this commentary, the authors call for greater flexibility and equity in the higher degree research training system to cater for health professionals located in rural and remote practice contexts., Conclusion: Institutional investment in, and commitment to, a truly distributed higher degree research model would ensure a stronger rural and remote workforce who can aspire to a range of career options and thereby positively impacting on the health and research outcomes for rural and remote Australia., (© 2021 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.)

Objective: Clinical placements in rural locations provide student health professionals with diverse learning opportunities. Engaging in clinical work and learning from role models and peers in the workplace are primary ways students develop professional skills, behaviour and identities as a health professional. The purpose of this study was to examine the influences supporting allied health students undertaking clinical placements in a rural health service to think, feel and act as a health professional from the perspective of allied health staff., Design: A qualitative study comprising focus group discussions was conducted., Setting: The study was conducted in a rural health service in Queensland, Australia., Participants: Seventeen allied health staff whose roles support clinical placement education in the health service MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This study identified clinical placement factors which can support allied health students thinking, feeling and acting as a health professional., Results: Thematic analysis was used to understand staff perceptions of how rural placements support students to think, feel and act as a health professional. Key placement actions included taking advantage of the diverse learning experiences in a rural area, facilitating student connectedness in the workplace and grading learning to support independence and autonomy for practice., Conclusions: Findings from this study show that the diverse work environment and experiences in a rural setting provide unique opportunities for students to begin to think, feel, and act as a health professional. Strategies identified might be applied in other similar contexts., (© 2019 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.)

Objective: This study compared rural location identified through the National Registration (AHPRA) registry with location obtained through labour-intensive personal contact., Design: Longitudinal cohort study with two methods to identify the work locations of medical graduates from The Rural Clinical School of Western Australia (RCSWA)., Participants: Consenting alumni from the University of Western Australia and the University of Notre Dame Fremantle participating in RCSWA between 2002 and 2009 inclusive and available to contact in 2011., Main Outcome Measure: Percentage location matches between two contact methods., Results: There was 80% agreement for principal suburb, 92% agreement for principal city and 94% agreement for principal state between RCSWA personal contact and the AHPRA registry. AHPRA identified nearly two times as many graduate locations. However, there was only 31% agreement for a rural placement location (of any length). In more detail, for year-long rural placement, personal contact was 88% concordant with AHPRA; work six months or more were less concordant (44% agreement); work less than six months were not concordant (4% agreement)., Conclusions: AHPRA data matched RCSWA alumni data only for graduates in full-time rural work. Since medical alumni spend up to 10 years in pre-vocational and vocational training, which includes many rural options, personal contact was able to pick up the myriad of rural choices, whereas the AHPRA database was not sensitive enough to identify them. Until graduates have stably finished training, the optimal method to identify rural work is through personal contact but statistical correction for missing data needs to be considered., (© 2013 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health © National Rural Health Alliance Inc.)