Rural Health Workforce development (including recruitment and retention strategies)
UQ medical graduate tracking outcomes (Medicos, data linkage)
AIM
To better understand the career outcomes of UQ medical graduates and to evaluate factors that are associated with their chosen specialisation and practice locations
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
O'Sullivan B, McGrail M, Gurney T, Martin P. (2021). Barriers to getting into postgraduate specialty training for junior Australian doctors: An interview-based study. Plos One, 16(10): e0258584
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Gurney T, Eley D, Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S. (2021). Exploring Doctors’ Emerging Commitment to Rural and General Practice Roles over Their Early Career. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22): 11835
O'Sullivan B, Gurney T, McGrail M. (2021). Selection, training and employment to encourage early-career doctors to pursue a rural postgraduate training pathway. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 29: 267-271
O’Sullivan B, McGrail M, Gurney T, Martin P. (2020). A realist evaluation of theory about triggers for doctors choosing a generalist or specialist medical career. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,17:1-17
Kwan MMS, Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S, Ranmuthugala G, Toombs MR, Nicholson GC. (2017). The rural pipeline to longer-term rural practice: General practitioners and specialists. PLoS One, 12(7): e0180394
Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S, Eley D, Ranmuthugala G, Chater A B, Toombs M, Darshan D, Nicholson G. (2015). Determinants of rural practice: positive interaction between rural background and rural undergraduate training. The Medical Journal of Australia, 202(1): 41-45
Building evidence of rural workforce support and policy
AIM
To provide new evidence of the design and outcomes of rural health workforce policies
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
Martin P, McGrail M, Fox J, Partanen R, Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S. (2022). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical student placements in rural Queensland: A survey study. The Australian Journal of Rural Health, doi: 10.1111/ajr.12862
Putri L, Russell D, O'Sullivan B, Meliala A & Kippen R. (2022). A critical review of definitions of rural areas in Indonesia and implications for health workforce policy and research. Health Research Policy and Systems, 20(1): 46
O'Sullivan B, Martin P, Taylor C, Lodding M, Bilardi G, Dix L, Phillips J, Hutchinson M, Van Wollingen R, Wallace G. (2022). Developing supervision capacity for training rural generalist doctors in small towns in Victoria. Rural and Remote Health, 22(1): 7124
Couch A, White J, O'Sullivan B, Haines T, Menz H, Williams C. (2022). What recently graduated podiatrists think of rural work, and how services are responding: a qualitative study. Rural and Remote Health, 22(1): 6930
O'Sullivan BG, Chater AB, Bingham A, Wynn-Jones J, Couper I, Hegazy N, Kumar R, Lawson H, Martinez-Bianchi V, Randenikumara S, Rourke J, Strasser S & Worley P. (2020). A Checklst for implementing rural pathways to train, develop and support heatlh workers in low and middle income countries. Frontiers in Medicine, 7: 594728
Couch D, O'Sullivan B, Russell D, McGrail M, Wallace G, Bentley M. (2020). An exploration of the experiences of GP registrar supervisors in small rural communities: a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 20: 834
O’Sullivan B, McGrail M, Gurney T, Martin P. (2020). A realist evaluation of theory about triggers for doctors choosing a generalist or specialist medical career. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7: 1-17
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Russell D, Rahman M. (2020). Exploring preference for, and uptake of, rural medical internships, a key issue of supporting rural training pathways. BMS Health Services Research, 930 (2020)
Couch D, O'Sullivan B, Russell D, McGrail M. (2020). It's so rich, you know, what they could be experiencing": Rural places for general practitioner learning. Health Sociology Review, 29: 76-91
Yong J, Scott A, Gravelle H, Sivey P, McGrail M. (2018). Do rural incentives payments affect entries and exits of general practitioners? Social Science and Medicine, 214: 197-205
MABEL project - rural workforce supply and distribution
AIM
To provide evidence to support improved medical workforce distribution for rural communities.
UQRCS leads all MABEL research relating to rural workforce.
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
Scott A, Li, J, Gravelle H, McGrail M. (2022). Physician competition and low-value health care. American Journal of Health Economics, 8(2): 252-274
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B. (2021). Increasing doctors working in specific rural regions through selection from and training in the same region: national evidence from Australia. Human Resources for Health, 132 (2021)
Lennon M, McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Suttie JJ. (2020). Are hospital registrars growing more satisfied with their jobs? Internal Medicine Journal, 54: 419-426
O'Sullivan B, McGrail M. (2020). Effective dimensions of rural undergraduate training and the value of training policies for encouraging rural work. Medical Education, 54: 364-374
McGrail M & O'Sullivan B.(2020). Faculties to support general practitioners working rurally at broader scope: a national cross-sectional study of their value. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17: 4652
Lennon M, McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Tan A, Mock C, Suttie JJ, Preddy J. (2020). Understanding professional satisfaction of hospital specialist trainees in Australia. Medical Education, 20: 834
Lennon M, O'Sullivan B, McGrail M, Russell D, Suttie J, Preddy J. (2019). Attracting junior doctors to rural centres: A national study of work-life conditions and satisfaction. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 27(6): 482-488
O'Sullivan B, Russell D, McGrail M, Scott A. (2019). Reviewing reliance on overseas-trained doctors in rural Australia and planning for self-sufficiency: applying 10 years' MABEL evidence, 17(1): 8
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Russell D. (2019). Rural work and specialty choices of international students graduating from Australian medical schools: implications for policy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24): 5056
Further information is available on the MABEL website.
Interprofessional education and collaborative practice
AIM
To provide evidence of the contribution of interprofessional education and collaborative practice to healthcare and its importance to clients, healthcare workers, and organisations.
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
Martin P. (2022). Facilitating interprofessional education and collaborative practice at the education and health system interface. Text Book: Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice - International approaches at Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels Publisher: Cognella, editors: Dawn Joosten-Hagye, Hossein Khalili, 12: 191-201
Martin P, Lizarondo L, Argus G, Kumar S & Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical supervision of healthcare students in rural settings: A qualitative study. IJERPH special issue, 19
Martin P, Kumar S, Tian E, Argus G, Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S, Lizarondo L, Gurney T, Snowdon D. (2022). Re-booting effective clinical supervision practices to support healthcare workers through and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J for Quality in Health Care,
34 (2)
Martin P, Pighills A, Burge V, Argus G, Sinclair L. (2021). Promoting interprofessional education and collaborative practice in rural health settings: learnings from a state-wide multi-methods study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10): 5162
Martin P, Hill A, Graham N, Argus G, Ford M. (2021). Sustaining rural interprofessional initiatives in the current landscape: a short report on interprofessional education in rural health services in Queensland. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 29(2): 245-247
Martin P, Moran M, Graham N, Hill A. (2021). The integral role of organisational governance in promoting interprofessional education in rural settings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6): 3041
Martin P, Sy M. (2021). Twelve tips to facilitate Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice with students on placements in healthcare settings. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 18(3): 1740
Speciality college selection
AIM
To review the selection policies and models used by speciality colleges to select candidates for entry to vocational training, exploring whether these processes are rural-focused.
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Gurney T. (2021). Critically reviewing the policies used by colleges to select doctors for specialty training: A kink in the rural pathway. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 29(2): 272-283
Female doctors and rural practice
AIM
To develop a perspective of female-specific rural medical workforce issues.
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, May J. (2022). Responsive policies needed to secure rural supply from increasing female doctors: A perspective. The International Journal of Health Planning & Management, 37(1): 40-49
Graduate Tracking & Growing the Rural Medical Workforce Pipeline
AIM
This study aimed to explore changes in the level of certainty about career interest in working in general practice and working rurally, as doctors pass through various early career stages.
Project contact
Findings and outcomes to date
Seal A, Playford D, McGrail M, Fuller L, Allen P, Burrows J, Wright J, Bain-Donohoe S, Garne D, Major L. (2022). Influence of rural clinical school experience and rural origin on practising in rural communities five and eight years after graduation. Medical Journal of Australia, 216(11): 572-577
Carson D, McGrail M, Sahay A. (2022). Regionalisation and general practitioner and nurse workforce development in regional northern Australia: insights from 30 years of Census migration data. Journal of Rural Studies, 91: 98-107
McGrail M, O'Sullivan B, Gurney T, Eley D, Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S, Ostini R. (2021). Exploring doctors emerging commitment to rural and general practice roles over their early career. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22): 11835