Is the "flipped" pedagogical model the answer to the challenges of rural nursing education?: A discussion paper?

Rural Australian health services face significant challenges such as aging populations, access and retention of services and health practitioners as well as difficulties with staff training due to geographic isolation. Educational pedagogy, through a ‘flipped’ or ‘flipped’ classroom method has become popular in nursing literature whereby discussion surrounding its effectiveness, ability to increase performance, address learning outcomes and resolve the education-clinical practice divide is currently being explored. Several reviews that look specifically at the validity and implementation of the flipped classroom pedagogy into nursing education demonstrate a need for further scientific research. Current literature examines the in-class on campus implementation of the methodology but rarely does it consider the advantages or ways of implementing such a method in a rural off campus nursing learning environment. The use of technology is not the solution unless supported by interaction to develop practical situational skills. The authors consider advantages and disadvantages and identify central problems for the effective implementation of ‘flipped’ in off-campus rural nursing education.