Building social capital with interprofessional student teams in rural settings: A service-learning model.

OBJECTIVE: To describe outcomes of a model of service learning in interprofessional learning (IPL) aimed at developing a sustainable model of training that also contributed to service strengthening. DESIGN: A total of 57 semi-structured interviews with key informants and document review exploring the impacts of interprofessional student teams engaged in locally relevant IPL activities. SETTING: Six rural towns in South East New South Wales. PARTICIPANTS: Local facilitators, staff of local health and other services, health professionals who supervised the 89 students in 37 IPL teams, and academic and administrative staff. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Perceived benefits as a consequence of interprofessional, service-learning interventions in these rural towns. RESULTS: Reported outcomes included increased local awareness of a particular issue addressed by the team; improved communication between different health professions; continued use of the team's product or a changed procedure in response to the teams' work; and evidence of improved use of a particular local health service. CONCLUSIONS: Given the limited workforce available in rural areas to supervise clinical IPL placements, a service-learning IPL model that aims to build social capital may be a useful educational model.

Evaluating the Health "Hubs and Spokes" interprofessional placements in rural New South Wales, Australia.

UNLABELLED: Australia has been relatively slow in adopting interprofessional learning (IPL) to prepare health professional students for future collaborative professional practice. A collaborative project between two universities placed senior health professional students in IPL teams in rural southeast New South Wales, Australia, to work on small, locally relevant projects with guidance from locally appointed IPL facilitators. This paper reports on the initial stages of an evaluation of this rural-based IPL intervention using the modified Freeth/Kirkpatrick's 4-level evaluation model. METHODS: Students' responses were collected using a debriefing questionnaire, the Interprofessional Education Perception (IEPS) and Team Performance (TPS) scales. An audience feedback questionnaire was structured around project objectives. RESULTS: Seventy-nine students participated in 33 IPL teams during the evaluation period included in this study. IEPS scores increased with participation (t=2.803; p=0.007). The TPS showed a statistically significant difference between teams (ANOVA, F(31,45) = 1.982, p=0.018( and a trend toward agreement with audience perceptions of team performance. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation demonstrated positive short-term outcomes suggesting benefits of this applied approach in preparing students to work interprofessionally.

Initiation and duration of breastfeeding in an aboriginal community in south western Sydney.

The Gudaga Study is a prospective, longitudinal birth cohort study of Australian urban Aboriginal children. Mothers of Aboriginal infants were recruited using a survey of all mothers admitted to the maternity ward of an outer urban hospital in Sydney. These data established initiation rates among Gudaga infants and those of non-Aboriginal infants born locally (64.7% and 75.2%, respectively) and factors associated with breastfeeding. Older (relative risk, 1.24; confidence interval, 1.01-1.44), more educated (relative risk, 1.30; confidence interval, 1.11-1.48) mothers who intended to breastfeed (relative risk, 2.22; confidence interval, 2.12-2.3) were more likely to breastfeed. Smokers (relative risk, 0.72) and mothers of Aboriginal infants (relative risk, 0.78) were less likely to initiate breastfeeding. Breastfeeding rates for Gudaga infants dropped rapidly, with 26.3% breastfeeding at 2 months. Local health services providers can benefit from such information as they target relevant prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal services for Aboriginal mothers and their infants.

Perceptions of preparation for further training: how our medical schools prepare graduates and the perceived factors influencing access to training.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the specific factors that graduates perceive to influence their success in obtaining primary training in a chosen field. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The New South Wales Medical Registration Board provided data on doctors who were registered to practise between 1995 and 2006. A brief, paper-based survey was sent to a random selection of 2000 doctors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Doctors' self-reported perceptions on the impact of demographic details, specialty training applied for, university training and other factors on opportunities for further training after medical school. RESULTS: Of the 375/1915 doctors (19.6%) who responded, most had completed a 6-year undergraduate degree from the University of Sydney, University of NSW or University of Newcastle, and most were at registrar level. Of 242/321 doctors (76%) who had applied for a training position, 240 (99%) had been accepted. The support of a mentor was considered the most positive influence on meeting long-term career goals (255/318 [80%]). Learning how to communicate with patients was valued as the most helpful aspect of medical school (270/318 [85%]). CONCLUSION: The personal attributes of graduates were considered more influential in achieving career goals and accessing further training than perceived features of a medical program. This suggests that more emphasis and research should be devoted to selecting the most appropriate candidates, rather than restructuring medical curricula to meet a presumed need for more content knowledge before graduation.