Destinations of nursing and allied health graduates from two Australian universities: A data linkage study to inform rural placement models
Corresponding Author
Keith Sutton PhD
Monash Rural Health (Warragul), Monash University, Warragul, Vic., Australia
Correspondence
Keith Sutton, Monash Rural Health, 15 Sargeant Street, Warragul, Vic. 3820, Australia.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorJulie Depczynski PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle, Moree, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorTony Smith PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle, Taree, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorEleanor Mitchell PhD
Monash Rural Health (Bairnsdale), Monash University, Bairnsdale, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorLuke Wakely PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorLeanne J. Brown PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorSusan Waller PhD
Monash Rural Health (Bendigo), Monash University, Bendigo, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDaniel Drumm PhD
Deakin Rural Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorVincent L. Versace PhD
Deakin Rural Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKarin Fisher PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAlison Beauchamp PhD
Monash Rural Health (Warragul), Monash University, Warragul, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Keith Sutton PhD
Monash Rural Health (Warragul), Monash University, Warragul, Vic., Australia
Correspondence
Keith Sutton, Monash Rural Health, 15 Sargeant Street, Warragul, Vic. 3820, Australia.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorJulie Depczynski PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle, Moree, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorTony Smith PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle, Taree, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorEleanor Mitchell PhD
Monash Rural Health (Bairnsdale), Monash University, Bairnsdale, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorLuke Wakely PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorLeanne J. Brown PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorSusan Waller PhD
Monash Rural Health (Bendigo), Monash University, Bendigo, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDaniel Drumm PhD
Deakin Rural Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorVincent L. Versace PhD
Deakin Rural Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKarin Fisher PhD
Department of Rural Health, The University of Newcastle Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAlison Beauchamp PhD
Monash Rural Health (Warragul), Monash University, Warragul, Vic., Australia
Contribution: Validation, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Objective
Combined, nursing and allied health constitute most of the Australian health workforce; yet, little is known about graduate practice destinations. University Departments of Rural Health have collaborated on the Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcomes Tracking to investigate graduate entry into rural practice.
Design
Data linkage cohort study.
Setting
Monash University and the University of Newcastle.
Participants
Graduates who completed their degree in 2017 across seven disciplines.
Main outcome measure(s)
The outcome variable was Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency principal place of practice data. Explanatory variables included discipline, age, gender, location of origin, and number and duration of rural placements.
Result
Of 1130 graduates, 51% were nurses, 81% females, 62% under 21 years at enrolment, 23% of rural origin, 62% had at least one rural student placement, and 23% had over 40 cumulative rural placement days. At the time of their second Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency registration, 18% worked in a ‘Rural principal place of practice.’ Compared to urban, rural origin graduates had 4.45 times higher odds ratio of ‘Rural principal place of practice.’ For graduates who had <20 cumulative rural placement days, compared to zero the odds ratio of ‘Rural principal place of practice’ was the same (odds ratio = 1.10). For those who had 20-40 rural placement days, the odds ratio was 1.93, and for >40 rural placement days, the odds ratio was 4.54).
Conclusion
Rural origin and more rural placement days positively influenced graduate rural practice destinations. Outcomes of cumulative placements days may compare to immersive placements.
DISCLOSURE
The authors declare no conflict of interest. All the authors are employed by either Monash University, the University of Newcastle or Deakin University under external funding arrangements with the Australian Government Department of Health via the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) Program.
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