Ms Ariane Aldus1, Ms Karyn Hetherington1, Dr Adam Johnson1, Professor Martin Jones2, Professor Beth Armstrong1
1University Department Of Rural Health South West, Bunbury, Australia, 2Edith Cowan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Bunbury, Australia
Biography:
Ariane is a Clinical Lecturer with the University Department of Rural Health South West. A physiotherapist of over 20 years experience, she has been working in the South West since 2017. Prior to this, she had worked in a variety of rural and remote setting including the Midwest, Wheatbelt, Riverina (in NSW) and Darwin.
With her previous experiences as a clinician and a manager of allied health and nursing staff, Ariane is passionate about the development of a sustainable rural health workforce through quality clinical rural placements to ensure quality health care for the South West community.
Abstract:
University nursing students, on placement in outer regional areas of the South West of Western Australia, are supported and assessed via a remote model of clinical facilitation. Under this model, students are allocated a University Clinical Facilitator (UCF) who provides supervision and assessment remotely throughout the placement.
Whilst this model is well established, providing the required consistent supervision standards, it has limitations. There is a lack of face-to-face support for both sites and students, and the UCF cannot provide hands-on assistance with physical skill development. Additionally remote assessment of skill development is challenging. The model relies on communication between the site nursing preceptors (SNP) and the UCF, which is made more difficult due to the rural context of these placements.
To address these challenges, UDRH SW and ECU are trialling an innovative hybrid model of support in MM5 areas of South West WA. This model supplements the remote clinical facilitation with a weekly onsite support session delivered by local UDRH SW employed nursing discipline advisors. These advisors liaise with the sites, SNP, students and UCF to supplement and support student development whilst on regional placement. The model’s effectiveness is evaluated via feedback from students and clinical facilitators following the placement.