Writing it down: an introduction.

In Australia, we are fortunate that the Department of Health and Ageing has implemented the Rural Health Strategy which has provided funding to Universities for the establishment of Rural Clinical Schools. This strategy was designed to encourage medical students to take up a career in rural practice by enabling them to undertake extended clinical training placements in rural locations. When the founding Directors met with the Department, we were at first told that we could not do research, and that we were only there for teaching. This approach was impossible for academic institutions to implement and eventually we persuaded them to fund research with some very positive outcomes for the health of rural and remote communities.