Student Tracking Study (Staff)

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A key part of UDRH strategies to address rural health workforce supply issues involves programs to increase rural enrolments in health sciences and to provide rural practice exposure and experience in undergraduate and early postgraduate years. While these strategies follow widespread practice, the department recognized the need for a study to rigorously evaluate both the programs and the theoretical assumptions which underlie them. The UDRH has commenced a four-part longitudinal study involving undergraduate and early post-graduate health science students which has used both survey and rich qualitative data to address three questions:

• Which aspects of rural origin have an effect on:
  • Entry into tertiary training for the health professions?
  • The experience of tertiary training including completion rates?
  • Subsequent patterns of rural/urban practice?
• What effects are rural practice education, promotion and experience within training having on patterns of postgraduate practice?
• Does the promotion of health careers to secondary students impact on entry rates into tertiary health professional training?

The study commenced in 2002 and has continued on a yearly basis. It has involved students from all years of study in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Tasmania and has followed them into practice after graduation. It involved Year 10 rural students who were exposed to health science career promotions.