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ACRRM update: Research activity at the Australian College of Rural and Remote medicine

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) runs a small but productive research team that is principally concerned with the production of studies that target key issues in knowledge and support of rural and remote medical practice. This principally applied research agenda provides an evidence base for much of the college's advocacy and for program design and prioritisation.

Over the past three years, ACRRM research output has concentrated on some principal elements of the rural and remote medical workforce, starting with a snapshot of the current procedural workforce and the principal barriers to the maintenance of procedural skills in the rural context. The outcomes of this research and its connected Symposium prioritised the need to provide upskilling and reskilling opportunities in a range of procedural disciplines and to provide the connected financial and logistical assistance for doctors to attend. The Commonwealth response to the issue comprised the innovative Procedural GP Grants Program that has been so effective in preserving the skills base in rural procedural medicine and encouraging procedural doctors to continue practice.

Currently the ACRRM research team is examining the trends in training and career choices of medical students and young doctors and looking at the drivers in decision-making that influence the new generation of rural doctors. In particular, ACRRM has a Commonwealth grant to track the changing preferences and intentions of John Flynn Scholars over the period of their Scholarship and into their junior doctor training. Similarly, ACRRM is studying the effects on choice of training and career of the provision of rural community practice training terms on interns and residents. The research is not only designed to answer the question - what influences career choice? but also to track the influence of the many Commonwealth initiatives developed in the 1990s to give medical students a better experience of rural practice through membership of Student Clubs, clinical attachments and scholarships.

ACRRM research outcomes are routinely posted on our website, www.acrrm.org.au and copies of our research monographs can be obtained from Anna Nichols at a.nichols@acrrm.org.au

For further information, contact:
Anna Nichols
Manager Research and Evaluation
Ph: 07 3105 8200
E: acrrm@acrrm.org.au