“The project – Rural Accreditation: Addressing Barriers to Rural Specialist Training – is an important step towards understanding the unique characteristics of rural hospitals,” said Associate Professor Kerin Fielding, Chair, Rural Health Equity Strategy Committee.
“It will also address reasons why RACS’ current training accreditation criteria and processes might not be as relevant to rural hospitals as they are to metropolitan hospitals.”
RACS applied for this funding under the new Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES) budget measure.
“The funding will enable us to kickstart our work on RACS Rural Health Equity Strategy,” said Associate Professor Fielding.
“The Strategy’s ‘Train for Rural’ component specifies the need for separate accreditation criteria for rural training post because of the unique value of rural training.”
“To enable more rural hospitals to offer surgical training posts we will begin by researching barriers rural hospitals encounter when they apply for surgical training accreditation and carry out consultations to gather first-hand information.”
RACS will publish a report on our findings and provide recommendations on areas that can be improved.
“This will help us identify specific areas of concern for rural hospitals and implement a plan to address those barriers,” said Associate Professor Kerin Fielding.
RACS will partner with key stakeholders, such as regional training hubs, drawing on their wealth of experience.
“We will form a consortium with the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA),” said Associate Professor Fielding.
“We will also work with key partners such as the Northern Territory Department of Health and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and want to involve experienced, interested parties such as clinicians and administrators at rural hospitals to ensure that the project’s result and recommendations can be applied to the specific needs of rural Australian hospitals and medical facilities.”
RACS is proud to be the recipient of the FATES funding, offered by the Australian Government Department of Health.
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