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Five years on: Influences on early career health professionals from a rural interprofessional pre‐registration immersion program
Author(s) -
Pullon Susan,
Garrett Susan,
Garnett Amanda,
Schwass Elizabeth Rose,
McKinlay Eileen,
Ashworth Natasha,
Darlow Ben
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/ajr.12705
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , medicine , interprofessional education , metropolitan area , pharmacy , nursing , health care , family medicine , health professionals , medical education , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , geometry , mathematics , pathology , engineering , economics , economic growth
Objective To ascertain former students' perceptions of and influences from a final‐year pre‐registration, rurally located, clinically based, 5 week interprofessional program on their subsequent work and career in the health professions. Design Online survey delivered 5 years post‐program (4 years post‐graduation). Setting The Tairāwhiti interprofessional education program was first undertaken in 2012/2013 by students from six health professional degree programs (dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy) in the Tairāwhiti region, New Zealand. Participants Health professionals who attended the Tairāwhiti interprofessional education program in 2012/2013 as students were invited to participate; 70 of 86 (81%) responded in 2017/2018. Results Five years on, most respondents (91%;64/70) were working as health professionals, with a fifth (23%;15/64) working overseas. Of those currently practising in New Zealand, 51% (24/47) were working in hospital practice and 49% (23/47) in the community, with 56% (27/48) working in metropolitan areas and 44% (21/48) in regional/rural locations. Of the 51 respondents who provided free‐text comments about perceived influences of program participation, the majority described positive influences on their clinical practice as health professionals or their subsequent career choices. Five themes emerged from the free‐text data: ‘made me a better clinician’; ‘made me consider rural/regional work’; ‘collaborating for care’; ‘choosing an area of practice to work in,’ and ‘little or no impact.’ Conclusion This work reports positive influences on subsequent careers among respondents who had previously participated as final‐year students in a rurally located IPE program, particularly with respect to interprofessional working, rural health, and contextual and cultural influences.