Allied health faculty attitudes toward rural clinical practice.

Research findings of allied health practitioners' attitudes toward rural practice are limited. The purpose of this study was to identify attitudes of faculty members in a school of allied health toward rural vs. urban living, clinical education, and practice. A survey consisting of demographic and attitudinal questions was mailed to 233 faculty representing five professions. The response rate was 63.5%. The majority viewed rural living as having both positive and negative aspects. Placement of clinical students in rural areas was seen as enhancing rural recruitment. Rural professional issues were viewed as mixed with the most positive aspect being greater intellectual challenge. There were a few significant attitude differences by gender, age, years of experience, profession, hometown location, and practice location site. The findings of this study generally support previous research and contribute additional knowledge regarding attitudes toward rural practice. Further studies of allied health professionals appear warranted.

Telecommunications and nursing education.

Telecommunications are becoming increasingly important to nursing educators. At the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, communication by two-way television, computers, facsimile machines, and telephone conferences is essential to the administration and operation of a school with four divisions located across 500 miles. Two-way television is available through one system that uses satellite and fiberoptic technology and another that uses telephone lines. The four campuses of the college share classes, administrative meetings, and conferences through television. Faculty members teaching via TV are oriented to designing instructional material for transmission and to the minor quirks of the technology. Students in TV classes must be aware of their responsibility for active involvement in learning. Studies have found no significant differences in the grades of students in "live" classrooms and those in TV classrooms, but both faculty and students prefer the face-to-face situation. The College of Nursing uses computers extensively on an internal network linking the four campuses for E-mail, file transfer, computer-assisted instruction, and administrative information sharing. Another computer network, Synapse Health Resources Online, links the college and the Medical Center with health professionals in rural areas throughout the state.

Satellite system addresses rural health problems.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center uses the recently established NEB*SAT state-owned satellite television system to transmit several types of educational presentations to rural Nebraska. The system represents the latest in a series of pioneering two-way television activities which have opened educational opportunities to students and professionals off-campus. Compressed video, transmitted via the NEB*SAT system, allows us to share credit courses in nursing and medical technology, administrative meetings, case conferences, and continuing education programs.

Using media in rural clerkships.

To enhance the educational value of rural clerkships for health professions students, the Biomedical Communications Division of the University of Nebraska Medical Center explored ways of providing instructional media to off-campus training sites. Faculty and community hospitals in rural areas were surveyed to identify appropriate topics. Videocassettes and slide-tape packages were previewed, evaluated, and purchased when acceptable. The packages were stored at Biomedical Communications. Off-campus faculty and students were encouraged to order media for use during preceptorships, but few took advantage of the opportunity. The greatest use of media occurred when packages were made available on-campus and students were encouraged to view them before or after rural clerkships.