Background: In New Zealand, 34% of deaths occur in the hospital setting where junior doctors are at the frontline of patient care. The death rate in New Zealand is expected to double by 2068 due to the aging population, but many studies report that graduates feel unprepared to care for people near the end of life and find this to be one of the most stressful parts of their work. International guidelines recommend that palliative and end of life care should be a mandatory component of undergraduate medical education, yet teaching varies widely and remains optional in many countries. Little is known about how medical students in New Zealand learn about this important area of clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the organisation, structure and provision of formal teaching, assessment and clinical learning opportunities in palliative and end of life care for undergraduate medical students in New Zealand. Methods: Quantitative descriptive, cross-sectional survey of module conveners in New Zealand medical schools. Results: Palliative and end of life care is included in undergraduate teaching in all medical schools. However, there are gaps in content, minimal formal assessment and limited contact with specialist palliative care services. Lack of teaching staff and pressure on curriculum time are the main barriers to further curriculum development. Conclusions: This article reports the findings of the first national survey of formal teaching, assessment and clinical learning opportunities in palliative and end of life care in undergraduate medical education in New Zealand. There has been significant progress towards integrating this content into the curriculum, although further development is needed to address barriers and maximise learning opportunities to ensure graduates are as well prepared as possible.

This chapter reports on a research project that set out to capture the unique stories from rural nurses from Aotearoa, New Zealand. During the past three decades changing socio-political and economic contexts have affected the delivery of health care while rural nurses have responded with new models of practice which has resulted in an emerging rural nurse discourse related and specific to rural New Zealand. Rural nurses have maintained and, in some cases, improved the health care of these rural communities. A total of 26 rural nurse participants shared their stories providing data to explore the structured phenomenon of rural nursing in New Zealand. Personal and human dimensions are illuminated, as the in-depth meaning of the experience is described by each individual storyteller. Interviews were conducted to collect retrospective stories uncovering the participants’ rural nurse journey. Revealed are a sense of place and people, involving what nurses’ express, as the rural way. A nursing discourse is developed which complements and extends international theories. The rural nurse of New Zealand is imbued with pioneering spirit; entrepreneurial practice shaped by their rural communities highlighting what we suggest is the rural way. Further expansion of the rural way was uncovered with follow up interviews exploring their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.