The Parallel Rural Community Curriculum: is it a transferable model?

Deaki

The impact of interpersonal relationships on rural doctors’ clinical courage

Introduction: Clinical courage occurs when rural doctors push themselves to the limits of their scope of practice to provide the medical care needed by patients in their community. This mental strength to venture, persevere and act out of concern for one’s patient, despite a lack of formally recognised expertise, becomes necessary for doctors who work in relative professional isolation. Previous research by the authors suggested that the clinical courage of rural doctors relies on the relationships around them. This article explores in more depth how relationships with others can impact on clinical courage. Methods: At an international rural medicine conference in 2017, doctors who practised rural/remote medicine were invited to participate in the study. Twenty-seven semistructured interviews were conducted exploring experiences of clinical courage. Initial analysis of the material, using a hermeneutic phenomenological frame, sought to understand the meaning of clinical courage. In the original analysis, an emic question arose: ‘How do interpersonal relationships impact on clinical courage’. The material was re-analysed to explore this question, using Wenger’s community of practice as a theoretical framework. Results: This study found that clinical courage was affected by the relationships rural doctors had with their communities and patients, with each other, with the local members of their healthcare team and with other colleagues and health leaders outside their immediate community of practice. Conclusion: As a collective, rural doctors can learn, use and strengthen clinical courage and support its development in new members of the discipline. Relationships with rural communities, rural patients and urban colleagues can support the clinical courage of rural doctors. When detractors challenge the value of clinical courage, it requires individual rural doctors and their community of practice to champion rural doctors’ way of working

Barriers, enablers and initiatives for uptake of advance care planning in general practice: A systematic review and critical interpretive synthesis

Objectives How advance care planning (ACP) is conceptualised in Australia including when, where and how ACP is best initiated, is unclear. It has been suggested that healthcare delivered in general practice provides an optimal setting for initiation of ACP discussions but uptake remains low. This systematic review and critical interpretive synthesis sought to answer two questions: (1) What are the barriers and enablers to uptake of ACP in general practice? (2) What initiatives have been used to increase uptake of ACP in general practice? Design A systematic review and critical interpretive synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature was undertaken. A socioecological framework was used to interpret and map the literature across four contextual levels of influence including individual, interpersonal, provider and system levels within a general practice setting. Setting Primary care general practice settings Data sources Searches were undertaken from inception to July 2019 across Ovid Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scopus, ProQuest and Cochrane Library of systematic reviews. Results The search yielded 4883 non-duplicate studies which were reduced to 54 studies for synthesis. Year of publication ranged from 1991 to 2019 and represented research from nine countries. Review findings identified a diverse and disaggregated body of ACP literature describing barriers and enablers to ACP in general practice, and interventions testing single or multiple mechanisms to improve ACP generally without explicit consideration for level of influence. There was a lack of cohesive guidance in shaping effective ACP interventions and some early indications of structured approaches emerging. Conclusion Findings from this review present an opportunity to strategically apply the ACP research evidence across targeted levels of influence, and with an understanding of mediators and moderators to inform the design of new and enhanced ACP models of care in general practice. PROSPERO registration number CRD4201808883

Exploring resilience in rural GP registrars – implications for training

Background: Resilience can be defined as the ability to rebound from adversity and overcome difficult circumstances. General Practice (GP) registrars face many challenges in transitioning into general practice, and additional stressors and pressures apply for those choosing a career in rural practice. At this time of international rural generalist medical workforce shortages, it is important to focus on the needs of rural GP registrars and how to support them to become resilient health care providers. This study sought to explore GP registrars' perceptions of their resilience and strategies they used to maintain resilience in rural general practice

Exploring rural doctors’ early experiences of coping with the emerging COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: To understand how rural doctors (physicians) responded to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic and their strategies for coping. Methods: Early in the pandemic doctors (physicians) who practise rural and remote medicine were invited to participate through existing rural doctors’ networks. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with rural doctors from 11 countries. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using NVivo. A thematic analysis was used to identify common ideas and narratives. Findings: Participants’ accounts described highly adaptable and resourceful responses to address the crisis. Rapid changes to organizational and clinical practices were implemented, at a time of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear, and with limited information and resources. Strong relationships and commitment to their colleagues and communities were integral to shaping and sustaining these doctors’ responses. We identified five common themes underpinning rural doctors’ shared experiences: (1) caring for patients in a context of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety; (2) practical solutions through improvising and being resourceful; (3) gaining community trust and cooperation; (4) adapting to unrelenting pressures; and (5) reaffirming commitments. These themes are discussed in relation to the Lazarus and Folkman stress and coping model. Conclusions: With limited resources and support, these rural doctors’ practical responses to the COVID-19 crisis underscore strong problem-focused coping strategies and shared commitments to their communities, patients, and colleagues. They drew support from sharing experiences with peers (emotion-focused coping) and finding positive meanings in their experiences (meaning-based coping). The psychosocial impact on rural doctors working at the limits of their adaptive resources is an ongoing concern

The pathway to more rural doctors: the role of universities

[Extract] Rural communities across Australia face an ongoing shortage of doctors, which reduces access to care and leads to poorer health outcomes for people living in rural areas. Significant undersupply exists, particularly in rural general practice, priority-need generalist specialties and rural generalism. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated vacancies as immigration of international medical graduates came to a standstill and interstate movement of rural locum doctors reduced. The recently released National Medical Workforce Strategy emphasises the need to grow a workforce of our own that is fit for purpose, to deliver culturally safe and context-specific medical services to all Australian people. Over the past 20 years, there have been significant political and educational initiatives to increase the rural workforce, with accompanying research investigating their outcomes

Exploration of rural physicians' lived experience of practising outside their usual scope of practice to provide access to essential medical care (clinical courage): an international phenomenological study

Objectives Rural doctors describe consistent pressure to provide extended care beyond the limits of their formal training in order to meet the needs of the patients and communities they serve. This study explored the lived experience of rural doctors when they practise outside their usual scope of practice to provide medical care for people who would otherwise not have access to essential clinical services. Design A hermeneutic phenomenological study. Setting An international rural medicine conference. Participants All doctors attending the conference who practised medicine in rural/remote areas in a predominantly English-speaking community were eligible to participate; 27 doctors were recruited. Interventions Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The transcripts were initially read and analysed by individual researchers before they were read aloud to the group to explore meanings more fully. Two researchers then reviewed the transcripts to develop the results section which was then rechecked by the broader group. Primary outcome measure An understanding of the lived experiences of clinical courage. Results Participants provided in-depth descriptions of experiences we have termedclinical courage. This phenomenon included the following features: Standing up to serve anybody and everybody in the community; Accepting uncertainty and persistently seeking to prepare; Deliberately understanding and marshalling resources in the context; Humbly seeking to know one's own limits; Clearing the cognitive hurdle when something needs to be done for your patient; Collegial support to stand up again. Conclusion This study elucidated six features of the phenomenon ofclinical couragethrough the narratives of the lived experience of rural generalist doctors

Point-of-care ultrasound in general practice: an exploratory study in rural South Australia

Introduction: Access to ultrasound imaging services is limited in rural areas and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has the potential to address this gap. We aimed to examine how POCUS is utilised by doctors in contemporary Australian rural general practice. Methods: A portable ultrasound machine and access to a training course were provided to four general practices in rural South Australia, and the type and frequency of POCUS scans were recorded, along with user information, between July 2020 and June 2021. Participating general practitioners (GPs) completed a survey at the commencement of the study regarding their previous experience and confidence in using POCUS for specific assessments and procedures. Results: Of the 472 scans recorded, most (95%) were for clinical indications, 3% for teaching activities and 2% for self-learning. Overall, 69% were obstetric scans, followed by abdominal (12%), gynaecological procedures (10%), other procedural (7%) and thoracic exams (1.5%). Users reported higher confidence for lower complexity POCUS. Conclusion: Although POCUS has diverse potential applications in rural practice, GPs reported limited confidence for certain scans and used POCUS predominantly for obstetric indications. Further studies should examine the barriers to POCUS utilisation, with particular attention to training requirements, reimbursement for use and access to machines

Factors that sustain indigenous youth mentoring programs : a qualitative systematic review

Background Indigenous youth worldwide continue to experience disproportional rates of poorer mental health and well-being compared to non-Indigenous youth. Mentoring has been known to establish favorable outcomes in many areas of health but is still in its early phases of research within Indigenous contexts. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators of Indigenous youth mentoring programs to improve mental health outcomes and provides evidence for governments’ response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Methods A systematic search for published studies was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and grey literature through Trove, OpenGrey, Indigenous HealthInfoNet, and Informit Indigenous Collection. All papers included in the search were peer-reviewed and published from 2007 to 2021. The Joanna Briggs Institute approaches to critical appraisal, data extraction, data synthesis, and confidence of findings were used. Results A total of eight papers describing six mentoring programs were included in this review; six papers were from Canada, and two originated from Australia. Studies included mentor perspectives (n=4) (incorporating views of parents, carers, Aboriginal assistant teachers, Indigenous program facilitators, young adult health leaders, and community Elders), mentee perspectives (n=1), and both mentor and mentee perspectives (n=3). Programs were conducted nationally (n=3) or within specific local Indigenous communities (n=3) with varying mentor styles and program focus. Five synthesized findings were identified from the data extraction process, each consisting of four categories. These synthesized findings were: establishing cultural relevancy, facilitating environments, building relationships, facilitating community engagement, and leadership responsibilities, which were discussed in the context of extant mentoring theoretical frameworks. Conclusion Mentoring is an appropriate strategy for improving general well-being. However, more research is needed to explore program sustainability and maintaining outcomes in the long term

Partnerships in Care: Attributes of successful care coordination models which improve health care networks for people with intellectual disability.

People with intellectual disability in rural areas experience a 'double disadvantage' in relation to the healthcare they receive, due to both their disability and geographic location. This research project sought: to discover: how rural people with intellectual disability establish and maintain their care networks; to identify models of care coordination that have supported health care for this group, and to develop and test a short term intervention of two localised models of care coordination in rural communities. The project was designed to identify key attributes of care coordination and understand how, and in what circumstances they function to provoke a systemic change that will lead to the outcomes of holistic and universal care for rural people with intellectual disability.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy