Creating a sustainable workforce

The UQRCS Research Group achieved numerous successes in 2021 that support our vision to embed research, education and innovation in local health services through collaborative partnerships. Here are some of the Group’s achievements from 2021:

• Provided evidence to support rural practice through enhancements of training, supervision, accreditation, incentives and organisations involved in building a rural physician workforce.
• Demonstrated that career intent certainty amongst doctors is delayed in cohorts choosing general practice and rural practice over other options.
• Explored the barriers of pre-registrar (junior) doctors getting into specialty training programs to inform tailored support and re-design of speciality entry systems.
• Determined that many specialty colleges have no rural-focused selection criteria in selecting doctors for specialist training.
• Provided recommendations for sustaining rural health research.

Research Group members were also recognised for their impactful research through the following awards:

1. Our co-designed suicide intervention training program for Indigenous Australians (I-ASIST), developed in partnership with Living Works Australia, was recognised with a national LiFE Impact Award. These awards are presented annually by Suicide Prevention Australia to organisations across the country.
2. Our collaborative work, contributed by Dr Priya Martin, which investigated the impact of the Rural Interprofessional Education and Supervision (RIPES) model to facilitate collaborative learning, won the international Barbara Fifield Brandt Award. Interprofessional Research Global provides two awards every two years to projects from around the world that are judged to be the best in their field for interprofessional education and collaborative practice.
3. Dr Belinda O’Sullivan and Associate Professor Matthew McGrail were awarded Best General Practice Research Article in the Australian Journal of General Practice by The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGPs) Foundation.