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Health Students (health + student)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

REMOVING THE ROADBLOCKS TO MEDICAL AND HEALTH STUDENT TRAINING IN RURAL HOSPITALS IN VICTORIA

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 5 2003
Graeme I. Jones
ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the extent of undergraduate health student placements in regional hospitals in northern Victoria in 1999, prior to substantial changes in rural undergraduate medical education in Australia. Method: Cross sectional postal survey with telephone follow-up in north-east Victoria. Subjects were all 17 regional and rural hospitals involved in health student teaching in North-east Victoria. Main outcome measures were the numbers, duration and discipline of health students placements and reported barriers to such placements. Results: Large regional hospitals accounted for two-thirds of all undergraduate health student placements. Smaller sites placed few allied health students. Barriers to a larger, more sustainable system of rural placements and rotations included accommodation shortages and funding constraints, particularly in smaller rural hospitals. Conclusions: Adequate resourcing of placements of a meaningful duration, stronger institutional support, and improved resourcing of regional accommodation is required to facilitate a larger, more systematic and sustainable system of medical and health student placements in rural areas. [source]

A systematic review of peer teaching and learning in clinical education

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 6 2008
Jacinta Secomb
Aims and objectives., The purpose of this review is to provide a framework for peer teaching and learning in the clinical education of undergraduate health science students in clinical practice settings and make clear the positive and negative aspects of this teaching and learning strategy. Background., The practice of using peers incidentally or purposefully in the clinical education of apprentice or undergraduate health science students is a well-established tradition and commonly practiced, but lacks definition in its implementation. Method., The author conducted a search of health science and educational electronic databases using the terms peer, clinical education and undergraduate. The set limitations were publications after 1980 (2005 inclusive), English language and research papers. Selection of studies occurred: based on participant, intervention, research method and learning outcomes, following a rigorous critical and quality appraisal with a purposefully developed tool. The results have been both tabled and collated in a narrative summary. Results., Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria, representing five countries and four health science disciplines. This review reported mostly positive outcomes on the effectiveness of peer teaching and learning; it can increase student's confidence in clinical practice and improve learning in the psychomotor and cognitive domains. Negative aspects were also identified; these include poor student learning if personalities or learning styles are not compatible and students spending less individualized time with the clinical instructor. Conclusions., Peer teaching and learning is an effective educational intervention for health science students on clinical placements. Preclinical education of students congruent with the academic timetable increases student educational outcomes from peer teaching and learning. Strategies are required prior to clinical placement to accommodate incompatible students or poor student learning. Relevance to clinical practice., The findings from this systematic review, although not statistically significant, do have pragmatic implications for clinical practice. It can increase clinical placement opportunities for undergraduate health students, assist clinical staff with workload pressures and increase clinician time with clients, while further developing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes. [source]

Money matters: students' perceptions of the costs associated with placements

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 10 2007
Natalie Wray
Context, Placements are an integral component of the medical, nursing and allied health curricula. However, apart from the relocation costs associated with placements, little research on students' understandings and experiences of the financial implications of placements has been carried out. Objectives, We report on students' financial concerns associated with placements, which emerged as a main theme in a broader study we conducted on the impact of undergraduate student placement experiences on graduate practice. Methods, We conducted a qualitative study which included focus group discussions (n = 17), individual interviews (n = 48) and written responses (n = 2) with undergraduate students (n = 103) and graduates (n = 27) from a tertiary institution in Victoria, Australia. Results, Students identified that income generation and the costs associated with transport and placement location contributed to the financial burden of placements. Students also spoke of the implications of high financial strain impacting on their accumulation of debt as well as on their health and wellbeing. Discussion, Our study advances our understanding of the implications of financial hardship experienced by medical, nursing and allied health students. In our study, students, regardless of their placement location, experienced increased demands and associated stress as a result of managing placements, paid employment and limited financial resources. We recommend that further quantitative research be conducted to measure the variables identified as emerging themes in this study. [source]

Loss of income and levels of scholarship support for students on rural clinical placements: A survey of medical, nursing and allied health students

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2009
Deborah Schofield
Abstract Objective:,To quantify the financial impact of rural clinical placements on medical, nursing and allied health students in rural Australia. Design:,The Careers in Health Tracking Survey provided data on whether students were employed, usual weekly hours of employment and a range of covariates, such as age, sex, course of study, marital status, dependants and rural or urban origin. Participants:,A total of 121 students from a range of health professions completed the Careers in Health Tracking Survey while on rural placement at the Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health. Outcome measures:,Survey data. Results:,Forty-one per cent of respondents were working immediately before their clinical placements. Nursing students worked the longest hours by far and were significantly more financially disadvantaged than both medical and allied health students (P < 0.01). Scholarship support was unevenly distributed, with nursing and allied health students being relatively under-supported in relation to lost earnings. Conclusion:,Recruitment of students can be an effective strategy to address the rural health workforce shortage throughout Australia. However, there are a number of financial disincentives for students to undertake rural clinical placements. Additional support for some disciplines is needed to provide equitable distribution of scholarship support to offset this financial burden. Establishing an employment scheme for students on rural clinical placements and a scholarship for income replacement where employment is not available would also alleviate income loss. [source]