Preparing Graduates to Meet the Allied Health Workforce Needs in Rural Australia: Short-Term Outcomes from a Longitudinal Study
نویسندگان
چکیده
The future allied health workforce needs to be flexible to meet the needs of an ageing population with increasing chronic health care needs and geographically dispersed populations in many developed countries. Existing research shows the maldistribution of the Australian health workforce, with allied health professionals being poorly represented in rural and remote areas. This mixed-methods longitudinal workforce outcomes study is ongoing to determine the rural and remote allied health workforce outcomes from an immersive student placement program based in rural New South Wales, Australia. Outcomes, to date, show 52% of graduates working in a rural or remote area (RA2–RA5) after one year and 37.5% at three years post-graduation. Students from a rural or remote background were 2.35 times (95% CI 1.056–5.229) more likely to be located in a rural or remote workplace after one year than graduates from a metropolitan background. Graduates provided reasons for their plans to move from or stay in their current position. Four key themes emerged: Seeking new and different opportunities; Better income and job security; Personal change and lifestyle improvement and Level of job satisfaction. An existing program to develop the allied health workforce in rural Australia is demonstrating positive short-term outcomes. Ongoing monitoring of workforce outcomes is required to determine the long-term outcomes for rural and remote communities.
منابع مشابه
The rural allied health workforce study (RAHWS): background, rationale and questionnaire development.
The allied health professions form approximately 18% of the health workforce in Australia and are well placed to contribute to future multidisciplinary models of health care. There are many reports describing the health workforce in Australia for the medical and nursing professions but there is very little information available about the nature of the allied health workforce. Recent studies hav...
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