Coping with increasing numbers of medical students in rural clinical schools: options and opportunities

The critical shortage of the rural medical workforce in Australia continues. There is pressure on medical schools to produce not only more doctors, but to supply them in geographical areas of need. The latest policy to tackle these problems will increase medical student numbers while the supply of clinical teachers and patients for teaching remains static. This challenges the traditional apprenticeship model for learning medicine. Coupled with this is the requirement of medical schools to provide compulsory rural clinical placements for all students. The success of rural clinical schools and University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) is increasingly apparent, but they must find new strategies to maintain a quality clinical experience and exposure to rural lifestyle for all medical students. The dilemma is providing this quality rural experience to all medical students in the immediate future. We suggest approaches to meet this challenge at a policy, organisational, student and teaching level.