Introduction: Pre-vocational placement experiences are known to considerably influence the career preferences of health graduates and are a key factor in growing the rural allied health workforce. This paper explores the rural placement experiences and future work intentions of students who attended a placement with the University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health. Methods: Part of a larger longitudinal mixed methods study of students’ placement experiences and subsequent career choices, this study explored students’ placement evaluations responses. Following each placement, students were invited to complete an online survey which asked about their placement experiences and future work intentions. Counts and proportion tests were performed for frequencies of quantitative variables. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were conducted on the paired pre- and post-rural intent scores to determine any perceived differences in intent before and after placement for students both with and without a rural background. Qualitative data from short answer questions were analyzed thematically guided by qualitative content analysis. Data were comparatively analyzed for students of a rural or urban background. Results: Four hundred and forty end of placement surveys were completed by 275 students (response rate 69.8%). There was a positive shift in intention to work rurally for students of both rural and urban background post-placement, but this was only statistically significant in the group from an urban background (p≤0.001). From the qualitative analysis three themes emerged: immersed rural supported placement experience, immersed interaction in rural life with other students, and immersed interaction in the rural community. Students from both rural and urban backgrounds indicated similar benefits and challenges. Conclusion: While the positive impact of rural placement experiences and rural background on future rural practice is well known, this study highlights the importance of positive supported placement experience for students from both rural and urban backgrounds.

The future allied health workforce needs to be flexible to meet the needs of an ageing population with increasing chronic health care needs and geographically dispersed populations in many developed countries. Existing research shows the maldistribution of the Australian health workforce, with allied health professionals being poorly represented in rural and remote areas. This mixed-methods longitudinal workforce outcomes study is ongoing to determine the rural and remote allied health workforce outcomes from an immersive student placement program based in rural New South Wales, Australia. Outcomes, to date, show 52% of graduates working in a rural or remote area (RA2–RA5) after one year and 37.5% at three years post-graduation. Students from a rural or remote background were 2.35 times (95% CI 1.056–5.229) more likely to be located in a rural or remote workplace after one year than graduates from a metropolitan background. Graduates provided reasons for their plans to move from or stay in their current position. Four key themes emerged: Seeking new and different opportunities; Better income and job security; Personal change and lifestyle improvement and Level of job satisfaction. An existing program to develop the allied health workforce in rural Australia is demonstrating positive short-term outcomes. Ongoing monitoring of workforce outcomes is required to determine the long-term outcomes for rural and remote communities.

The medical workforce shortfall in rural areas is a major issue influencing the nature of undergraduate medical education in Australia. Exposing undergraduates to rural life through rural clinical school (RCS) placements is seen as a key strategy to address workforce imbalances. We investigated the influence of an extended RCS placement and rural origin on the rural principal place of practice (PPP) of the first 3 graduate cohorts (2012–2014) from a Joint Medical Program offered by two universities based in northern New South Wales. Data was available for 426 eligible graduates. Participation in an extended RCS placement (odds ratio (OR), 6.075, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.716–13.591), rural background (OR 3.613, 95% CI 1.752–7.450) and being 25 years or older at completion of a medical degree (OR 2.550, 95% CI 1.252–5.194) were all independently associated with rural PPP. Being bonded into a program to practice rurally was not associated with rural PPP. Participation in an extended RCS placement is strongly associated with rural practice in the first 3 to 5 years of practice for graduates from both rural and metropolitan backgrounds. This finding indicates that strategies to improve the rural workforce should focus on the promotion of rural placements, in addition to rural background.

Background: Allied health professionals provide essential healthcare services to older adults with chronic health conditions. However, there are challenges to access and utilisation of these services for rural communities and limited scope of the existing literature. Objective: To conduct a scoping review of the literature related to access and utilisation of allied health services for older adults living in rural areas. Design: Scoping review. Methods: Four databases were searched. Articles were included based on pre-determined criteria and were limited to articles published between 2010 and 2023. Data were extracted with a focus on access and utilisation factors, enablers and barriers related to care recipients, care providers, other stakeholders and the healthcare system. Results: Thirty four studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority of studies focussed on accessibility from the perspective of the consumer (n = 31), whilst few studies focussed on the perspective of the care providers (n = 3). ‘Availability and accommodation’ was the most frequently explored dimension of accessibility in the included papers, from the consumers’ perspective (n = 18) and from the health system (n = 15). Conclusion: This is the first scoping review to improve understanding of older adults’ access to and utilisation of allied health services in rural areas. Understanding the most impactful accessibility dimensions can enhance strategies for improving access and utilisation of allied health services, especially when tailored to the local context. More studies are needed to understand accessibility of allied health services in rural areas from the perspective of care providers.

This paper describes a rural immersive attachment program for allied health students at an Australian University Department of Rural Health and its workforce outcomes. A mixed methods longitudinal cohort study, with data collected via end-of-placement and post-graduation surveys. Over 13 years, 311 allied health ‘year-long’ immersive rural attachments, as well as short-term placements, were supported. Pre- and post-placement rural practice intention ratings were paired (from 572 end of placement surveys) for 553 (96.7%) students. Students from metropolitan (49.4%, n = 273, p < 0.001), and rural origin (50.6%, n = 280, p < 0.001) showed a significant increase in rural practice intention. At 1 year post-graduation, 40.3% (n = 145) of graduates had worked in a rural or remote location in Australia, 39.9% at 3 years (n = 87) and 36.5% (n = 42) at 5 years. Longer-term rural attachments were found to be associated with rural practice location, independent of rural background. Those who had undertaken a longer rural attachment (≥18-weeks) were twice as likely to be working in a rural or remote area than those <18 weeks at 1 year (OR 2.018 95% CI 1.204–3.382) and 2.7 times as likely at 3 years (OR 2.727, 95% CI (1.325–5.614). Supporting students to undertake rural immersive attachments appears to be associated with greater rural practice intention and later rural practice.

This report introduces a narrative reflection from an interprofessional team who developed and delivered a workshop for clinical educators aimed at enhancing students' interprofessional collaborative practice for patient care. This innovative project focused on educators' role modeling of interprofessional rapport. We report our narrative reflections, highlighting how we embedded creativity into both the workshop and these reflections and how we as researchers value rapport in working together. Using dialogue and creative methods, we provide brief details of the workshop, and share our insights around its development, implementation, and evaluation. Integral to the workshop was our previous research identifying interprofessional rapport as key to interprofessional collaborative practice. We extended this previous research to draw on what we observed as the unrealized potential for developing students' interprofessional collaborative practice by focusing on clinical educators' role modeling of interprofessional rapport in the context of work-integrated learning. We share our experiences and perceptions of the workshops through our reflections to highlight the importance of rapport for authenticity across the project, including responding to vulnerability, maintaining momentum, supporting critical reflections, and nurturing our connections.