From the Bush to the Big Smoke: Development of a Hybrid Urban Community Based Medical Education Program in the Northern Territory, Australia

  • user warning: Got error 28 from storage engine query: SELECT t.*,v.weight AS v_weight_unused FROM term_node r INNER JOIN term_data t ON r.tid = t.tid INNER JOIN vocabulary v ON t.vid = v.vid LEFT JOIN term_data tac_td ON t.tid = tac_td.tid WHERE (t.tid IN (0, 16) OR tac_td.vid NOT IN (4,6)) AND ( r.vid = 2763 )ORDER BY v.weight, t.weight, t.name in /home/unicmsne/public_html/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module on line 640.
  • user warning: Got error 28 from storage engine query: SELECT DISTINCT b.* FROM blocks b LEFT JOIN blocks_roles r ON b.module = r.module AND b.delta = r.delta WHERE b.theme = 'lime' AND b.status = 1 AND (r.rid IN (1) OR r.rid IS NULL) ORDER BY b.region, b.weight, b.module in /home/unicmsne/public_html/modules/block/block.module on line 460.
Year: 2009
Author(s): Morgan, S., Smedts, A., Campbell, N., Sager, R., Lowe, M and Strasser, S.
Book/Journal: Rural and Remote Health
Volume and Page Info: Vol. 9, p.1175
Type: Journal
Topics:
Curriculum Development
Publisher: Rural and Remote Health
Abstract
Context: The Northern Territory (NT) of Australia is a unique setting for training medical students. This learning environment is characterised by Aboriginal health and an emphasis on rural and remote primary care practice. For over a decade the NT Clinical School (NTCS) of Flinders University has been teaching undergraduate medical students in the NT. Community based medical education (CBME) has been demonstrated to be an effective method of learning medicine, particularly in rural settings. As a result, it is rapidly gaining popularity in Australia and other countries. The NTCS adopted this model some years ago with the implementation of its Rural Clinical School; however, urban models of CBME are much less well developed than those in rural areas. There is considerable pressure to better incorporate CBME into medical student teaching environment, particularly because of the projected massive increase in student numbers over the next few years. To date, the community setting of urban Darwin, the NT capital city, has not been well utilised for medical student training. Issue: In 2008, the NTCS enrolled its first cohort of students in a new hybrid CBME program based in urban Darwin. This report describes the process and challenges involved in development of the program, including justification for a hybrid model and the adaptation of a rural model to an urban setting. Relationships were established and formalised with key partners and stakeholders,