Australian rural medical students' perceived readiness for work as a junior doctor: A cross-sectional national survey
Files
(Published version)
Date
2023
Authors
Graham, P.
Padley, J.
Williams, S.
Gonzalez-Chica, D.
Isaac, V.
Walters, L.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Australian Journal of Rural Health, 2023; 31(5):999-1007
Statement of Responsibility
Patrick Graham, James Padley, Susan Williams, David Gonzalez-Chica, Vivian Isaac, Lucie Walters
Conference Name
Abstract
Objective: To report self-perceived readiness for work as a junior doctor in a national cohort of rural clinical school students. Design: Cross-sectional study using a self-report questionnaire. Independent variables included 14 individual readiness items related to clinical and professional tasks, sociodemographic data and reported experience of rural clinical school(RCS) training. Participants were 668 medical students (55.3% females) completing a full academic year in rural Australia. Multivariable analysis explored factors associated with overall readiness for work as a junior doctor. Findings: 86% agreed that RCS experience prepared them to undertake the roles and responsibilities of a junior doctor. Self-ratings for specific clinical and professional tasks varied from a mean score of 5.9–8.0 out of 10, and 13 of the 14 items were associated with the outcome (p- value <0.001, except for performing spirometry). Lowest readiness scores were seen for some aspects including raising concerns about a colleague (mean score 6.1) or responding to workplace bullying(mean score 6.0). Aspects of the RCS experience that were strongly associated with overall readiness included: feeling a valued team-member (OR 9.28, 95%CI2.43–35.39), feeling well-supported academically (OR 6.64, 95%CI 3.39–13.00),having opportunity for unsupervised but supported clinical practice (OR 4.67,95%CI 1.45–15.00), having a rural mentor (OR 3.38, 95%CI 1.89–6.06) and having a previous health professional qualification (OR 2.7, 95%CI 1.32–5.54).Discussion: Most RCS students felt ready for work as a junior doctor. Important aspects of RCS experience are likely to include students feeling integrated within the clinical team and having opportunities for authentic clinical roles. There re-mains a significant challenge for medical school curricula to address professional areas where graduates felt less prepared.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
© 2023 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.