Determinants of high-quality rural health student placements are on the horizon

Introduction
People living in rural areas have reduced access to health care services in comparison to their metropolitan-dwelling counterparts, with a maldistributed health workforce contributing to the issue. Health student placements are utilised as a strategy to develop the rural health workforce in Australia and internationally. An understanding of the determinants of high-quality health student placements is essential in the placement development and facilitation process. However, these determinants are not yet known.

Methods
An ECOUTER (Employing COnceptUal schema for policy and Translation Engagement in Research) multiple case study methodology was adopted to explore the perspectives of geographically dispersed regional, rural, and remote university staff. Four iterative stages of data collection and analysis were conducted with 10 cases. Each case comprised of Australian University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) staff involved in rural health student placements. Participants engaged in a virtual mind-mapping process to list features of high-quality rural health student placements. Focus groups refined top-level and sub features on each mind-map, which was then subject to cross-case analysis to identify overarching constructs and sub-constructs. A final focus group consisting of representatives from seven cases further refined these constructs.

Results
Eighty-six participants from 10 cases in diverse regional, rural, and remote Australian contexts contributed to the development of nine interconnected high-quality rural health student placement constructs: placement planning, student selection, stakeholder communication and collaboration, placement orientation, student supervision, logistical resources, learning opportunities, connecting with the rural community, and student wellbeing and supports.

Discussion
This study revealed the complexity involved in developing and facilitating high-quality health student placements in regional, rural and remote communities. High-quality rural health student placements require timely stakeholder collaboration and provision of a range of other context-dependent resources and activities. This presentation will provide the audience will an overview of the features of high-quality rural placements and how the results of this research can inform education practices.