The University of Otago is a long-established champion of rural health education, training and research, pioneering successful initiatives over many years to increase the number of doctors who go on to choose rural medicine as a career.
“Here at Otago, we’ve really put our money where our mouth is, exposing medical students to rural medical training, supporting established doctors in rural areas, and helping serve the healthcare needs of rural communities in Aotearoa New Zealand for many decades,” says University of Otago Medical School Acting Dean Professor Tim Wilkinson.
This year medical students were placed in 57 cities, towns and localities across the country, involving 135 different medical practices, 48 of them regional or rural.
That commitment starts right from entry level to medical school, with the University encouraging high school students – especially those from rural areas – to consider a future career as a rural doctor.
Otago’s flagship initiative is the Rural Medical Immersion Programme (RMIP), a one-year programme in which groups of three to five fifth-year medical students elect to live, study and train in one of nine rural regions nationwide. Launched in Queenstown and Greymouth in 2007, it has since expanded to include Tararua, Wairarapa, Marlborough, Clutha, Ashburton, Wairoa and Alexandra. This year 31 students are taking part in RMIP.
“We know that if students learn in rural communities, they are six times more likely to come back and practice there. They feel supported, they feel committed to that region, the region support them and feels supported by them in turn, so for me it’s a win-win”, Professor Wilkinson says.
Wairoa RMIP student Tanira Kingi agrees.
“We love it here, it’s awesome.
“We rave to each other every day about the experiences we get to have, the teaching from the amazing doctors, the joy of serving in this wonderful community. This has truly been the most transformative year of my medical journey to date,” Tanira says.
Another popular rural initiative is Otago’s Interprofessional Education programme (IPE), during which groups of final year students from a range of health professions live, study and learn together in five-week placements based in Greymouth or Gisborne.
Sixth-year medical students are joined by Otago dental and physiotherapy students, as well as midwifery, nursing and podiatry students from other institutions.
Based on four pillars – long-term health condition management, inter-professional education, rurality and hauora Māori, IPE students flat together, carry out community projects as a group and visit local health and iwi providers, spending time observing each other’s specialty placements.
Otago’s rural initiatives are plentiful in the post-graduate space as well with vocational and continuing medical education courses and learning opportunities for health professionals already working in rural areas.
One such initiative is the Ashburton-based Inter-Professional Simulation course. Held twice annually, the three-day courses bring together teams of rurally based doctors and nurses to train in a specialised simulation suite with a high-fidelity mannikin, brushing up on vital trauma and medical emergency response skills.
The University also boasts a multi-million-dollar research programme, focussed on improving health outcomes for people living in rural areas.
Otago Medical School recently launched a Centre for Rural Health as well. The virtual Centre amalgamates all of Otago’s highly-dispersed rural education, research and training initiatives under one umbrella.
Centre for Rural Health Director, Professor Garry Nixon explains the centre has responsibility across all pathways from rural medical school entry right through to senior academic posts.
“It’s another positive step in cementing ourselves as leaders and innovators for rural medical education in New Zealand.”
Professor Wilkinson says the University is looking to the future.
“Here at the University of Otago, we are committed to delivering the very best outcomes for our rural communities by training and supporting world class rural doctors and health professionals for the future. We’ve got the links, the experience, the breadth, and we’re keen to do more.”