This document summarizes a 3-day remote health experience program for first-year medical students in the Northern Territory of Australia. The program aims to showcase positive remote healthcare experiences and teach themes like resource-limited care, multidisciplinary teams, isolated practice, and Indigenous health. It involves skills stations, cultural activities, and evaluations that have found the program is well-received and can help students understand remote healthcare contexts.

1. Sarah Chalmers Pascale Dettwiller Flinders Northern Territory Rural Clinical School
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Relationships with commercial interests:
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Not applicable
1

2. Disclosure of Commercial Support Slide 2
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This program has not received financial support in any form.
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This program has not received any in-kind support.
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There is no potential for conflict(s) of interest. 2

3. Flinders Northern Territory REMOTE HEALTH EXPERIENCE
“Walking in each other’s shoes - Honouring each other’s stories” 3
Museum

4. Acknowledgement
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I pay my respects to the Traditional Custodians and acknowledge Elders past, present and future across the lands and waters in which I work and live.
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I acknowledge the Elders past, present and future of the various countries represented at this conference. 4

5. NTMP Remote Health Experience
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Commenced in 2011.
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Initially 1 day in Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in Bachelor.
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Now 3 days in Katherine since 2012.
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Compulsory attendance for all Y1 NTMP students.
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Multidisciplinary student program – medicine, nursing Aboriginal Health Practitioners, Pharmacy.
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Aim – to showcase a positive experience of remote health practice.
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Themes – resource poor health-care, multidisciplinary team work, isolated practice, public health, Indigenous health. 5

6. 3 day program
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Day 1 – travel to Katherine, Welcome to country, Introduction to Remote Health, Aboriginal Health Practitioner presentations, Get to know your group.
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Day 2 – skills stations, group dinner
•Day 3 – Cultural activities 6

7. Preparation multidisciplinary team from Katherine
Plenary session at CDU
Get to know your group
Doing together ; learning from each other 7

8. Skill stations
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Challenge – how to keep everyone entertained and interested, with relevant teaching across the disciplines.
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Started with the themes, used real experiences to write scenario, added “entertainment value” with practical skill.
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Initial ‘think tank’ – GP and paramedic, then input from nursing, pharmacy and AHP. 8

9. Examples
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Troopy Rollover – Sort and Sieve (Prioritising)
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Hydration – D&V outbreak at outstation during ceremonial gathering (Public Health, Poor resources, skill=cannulation)
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Trachoma program – public health screening 9

10. Rehydration and cannulation
Trachoma 10

11. Aboriginal Cultural Activities
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Recognised as an important component for NT remote.
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Our approach was to move away from the academic lectures which most students have as part of their course.
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Input sought from Banatjarl Wumin’s Grup – consensus was they would be the best ones to deliver the content.
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Painting exercise.
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Community Engagement principles. 11
1-Petts, J & Leach, B (2000) ‘Evaluating methods for public participation: a literature review’, R & D technical report, E135, Environment Agency, Bristol 2-Brown, J & Isaacs, D (1994) ‘Merging the best of two worlds the core processes of organisations as communities’ in P Senge, A Kleiner, C Roberts, R Ross & B Smith (eds.) The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization, Doubleday/Currency Publications

12. Painting together; telling the story
Bush medicines 12

13. Strengths
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Remote NT focused.
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Multidisciplinary teaching & learning.
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Continuity of program and key organisational staff; sustainability of program.
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Local community & professional support – which will continue to grow.
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Long term community engagement and capacity building (university social accountability). 13

14. Challenges
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Maintaining the multidisciplinary balance.
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Continuity of presenters – “best” rated skill stations are those with continuity.
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Out of hours students behaviour.
2012 ATSIHP 14

15. Evaluation
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Methodology over the 4 years of the program: from Delphi feedback to automatised survey data treated in Adelaide. Formal and informal.
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Analysis: from thematic Leximancer to statistical data.
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Findings:
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higher rated station were those with continuity of teachers;
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overall well received exercise;
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ATSIHP in a separate evaluation reported that this event was a trigger for them to ‘understand that all doctors started as students’. 15

16. Concept map Leximencer© Connectors for Skill/Knowledge/ Learning Experience and ATSIHP RHE 2012 (Delphi type survey)
Concept map Leximencer©
What was good ?
RHE 2011 (Dephi type survey) 16

17. Stations
Response rate (n=56)
Response rate (n=60)
Av. Rating
2014
SD
Av. Rating
2013
SD
1 TROOPY
80.4%
78.3%
4.5
0.8
4.37
0.9
2 Emergency
87.5%
78.3%
4.7
0.9
4.47
0.9
3 TRACHOMA
51.8%
83.3%
4.6
0.9
4.37
0.9
4 Cannulation
82.1%
60%
4.7
0.9
4.35
0.97
5 Chest pain
84%
86.6%
4.7
0.9
4.34
0.9
6 Communication
42.3%
83.3%
4.6
0.8
4.31
0.9
7 First Aid & Bush Medicines
80.4%
78.3%
4.5
0.78
4.21
0.8
3.9
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
2014
2013
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Chart representing the overall rating for the 7 stations in 2013 & 2014 using survey with Likert scale rating.

19. How this compare to what others do?
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Halaas GW, Zink T, Brooks KD, Miller J (2007) Clinical skill day: preparing third year medical students for their rural rotation. Int. J. R&R Health Research, Practice and Policy.7:788
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Whelan JJ, Spencer JF, Rooney K (2008) A ‘RIPPER’ Project: advancing rural interprofessional health education at the University of Tasmania. Int. J. R&R Health Research, Practice and Policy.8:1017
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Deutchman ME, Nearing K, Baumgarten B, Westfall JM (2012) Interdisciplinary rural immersion week. . Int. J. R&R Health Research, Practice and Policy.12:2045
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Gum LF, Richards JN, Walters L, Forgan J, Lopriore M, Nobesc (2013) Immersing undergraduate into an interprofessional longitudinal rural placement. Int. J. R&R Health Research, Practice and Policy.13:2271
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Mfopu the late R, Daniels PS, Adonis TA, Karuguti WM (2014) Impact of an interprofessional education program on developing skilled graduates well- equipped to practice in rural and underserved areas. Int. J. R&R Health Research, Practice and Policy.14:2671 19

20. Acknowledgment to all the contributors
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Flinders Northern Territory Medical Program
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Sunrise Health Service
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St John’s Ambulance
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Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
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Charles Darwin University Darwin, Darwin and Katherine
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Flinders University NT, Katherine Rural Clinical School, Darwin NTMP
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Tim Lane, year3 NTMP student for stepping in a station at last notice
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Centre for Remote Health
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Web Development Learning Technologies Unit - Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
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We also acknowledge local community members who have given freely of their time.
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Cultural Advisors:
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Kylie Stothers
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Banatjarl Wumin’s Grup
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May Rosas 20