Background People living in rural areas have poorer health than their urban counterparts. Although rural health research centres have been promoted as vehicles for improving rural health by contributing evidence to address rural health disadvantage and building research capacity, their characteristics and evolution are poorly understood. Collaboration is known to have an important positive influence on research outputs and research quality. In this study we examine publication outputs from an Australian rural research centre to evaluate how researchers have engaged in research collaboration over a two-decade period. Methods A retrospective longitudinal study of publications in peer-reviewed journals from a rural [...]

ABSTRACT (PhD, *Correspondence to: H. Beks Deakin Rural Health, School of Medicine, Warrnambool, Vic., Australia Email: hannah.beks@deakin.edu.au Received: 5 May 2023 Accepted: 27 July 2023 Published: 14 August 2023 Cite this: Beks H et al. (2023) Australian Health Review 47(5), 626–628. doi:10.1071/AH23098 © 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) OPEN ACCESS Reforms that grow the capabilities of the health workforce are critical to improving outcomes for populations residing in rural and remote areas of [...]

Executive Summary University Departments of Rural Health (UDRHs) are funded under the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program to facilitate clinical placements in rural and remote settings throughout Australia for students enrolled in tertiary health courses. UDRHs support students financially to travel to rural and remote locations, provide subsidised accommodation, and ensure clinical learning needs are met whilst on placement. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 16 operational UDRHs across Australia supported over 16,500 placements in 2019 (mostly in nursing, midwifery and allied health).¹ Although similar numbers of UDRH-facilitated placements were planned in 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic [...]

Objective To investigate the reasons patients with non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain (NTMSP) present to an emergency department (ED), their experience of care and perceptions about managing their condition in the future. Methods A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with patients with NTMSP presenting to a suburban ED. A purposive sampling strategy included participants with different pain characteristics, demographics and psychological factors. Results Eleven patients with NTMSP who presented to an ED were interviewed, reaching saturation of major themes. Seven reasons for ED presentation were identified: (1) desire for pain relief, (2) inability to access other healthcare, (3) expecting comprehensive care at the ED, (4) [...]

It is imperative that universities continue to explore innovations that support staff and student learning and pursue their mission to promote social responsibility and community service. Communities of Practice have been used to facilitate innovation and regenerate teaching and learning in tertiary contexts, including interdisciplinary collaborations around complex problems. This study describes the challenges and achievements of the first year of an interdisciplinary Community of Practice which aimed to create innovative approaches to teaching and learning about family and domestic violence, a complex social issue, inherently gendered, which receives little attention across the University discipline areas, despite the centrality of [...]