Objective
Combined, nursing and allied health constitute most of the Australian health workforce; yet, little is known about graduate practice destinations. University Departments of Rural Health have collaborated on the Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcomes Tracking to investigate graduate entry into rural practice.
Design
Data linkage cohort study.
Setting
Monash University and the University of Newcastle.
Participants
Graduates who completed their degree in 2017 across seven disciplines.
Main outcome measure(s)
The outcome variable was Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency principal place of practice data. Explanatory variables included discipline, age, gender, location of origin, and number and duration of rural placements.
Result
Of 1130 graduates, 51% were nurses, 81% females, 62% under 21 years at enrolment, 23% of rural origin, 62% had at least one rural student placement, and 23% had over 40 cumulative rural placement days. At the time of their second Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency registration, 18% worked in a ‘Rural principal place of practice.’ Compared to urban, rural origin graduates had 4.45 times higher odds ratio of ‘Rural principal place of practice.’ For graduates who had <20 cumulative rural placement days, compared to zero the odds ratio of ‘Rural principal place of practice’ was the same (odds ratio = 1.10). For those who had 20‐40 rural placement days, the odds ratio was 1.93, and for >40 rural placement days, the odds ratio was 4.54).
Conclusion
Rural origin and more rural placement days positively influenced graduate rural practice destinations. Outcomes of cumulative placements days may compare to immersive placements.
Introduction: Inequitable distribution of health workforce limits access to healthcare services and contributes to adverse health outcomes. WHO recommends tracking health professionals from their points of entry into university and over their careers for the purpose of workforce development and planning. Previous research has focused on medical students and graduates' choice of practice location. Few studies have targeted nursing and allied health graduates' practice intentions and destinations. The Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcomes Tracking (NAHGOT) study is investigating factors affecting Australian nursing and allied health students and graduates' choice of graduate practice location over the course of their studies and up to 10 years after graduation by linking multiple data sources, including routinely collected university administrative and professional placement data, surveys of students and graduates, and professional registration data. Methods: By using a prospective cohort study design, each year a new cohort of about 2000 students at each participating university
Objective. The rural Central Gippsland Health Service (CGHS) assists patients with diabetes through the provision of diabetes education. The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the CGHS 5-week didactic program and a modified group-participatory Conversation Maps diabetes education program.Method. A pre- and post-program survey was conducted of clients who attended the two different diabetes education programs. The survey consisted of a self-constructed demographic questionnaire, the Diabetes Knowledge Test, the Diabetes Empowerment Scale, and the Diabetes Self-Care Activities Measure.Results. For the CGHS program, there were no differences between pre- and post-program surveys in knowledge scores (11.05 ± 3.56 vs. 12.75 ± 4.19, P = 0.0883, n = 20), self-care activities (4.46 ± 1.11 vs. 4.83 ± 0.68, P = 0.0832, n = 12), or empowerment scores (7.16 ± 1.60 vs. 7.92 ± 1.26, P = 0.0540, n = 17).For the modified Conversation Maps program, there were significant improvements between pre- and post-program surveys in knowledge scores (12.42 ± 4.15 vs. 15.54 ± 3.79, P = 0.0004, n = 26), self-care activities (4.74 ± 1.09 vs. 5.32 ± 0.80, P = 0.0139, n = 24), and empowerment scores (6.56 ± 2.19 vs. 8.11 ± 1.46, P = 0.0016, n = 21).The greatest difference between the two programs was observed in knowledge gain (P = 0.0178). Overall, participants were satisfied with both programs, with no difference seen in satisfaction levels (P = 0.9763). A1C results improved in both programs to a mean of 6.7% (P = 0.0071 for CGHS and P = 0.0092 for Conversation Maps).Conclusion. The modified Conversation Maps program resulted in significant improvements for rural participants.
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