By Deanne Jeffers
THE first class to undertake the entire Doctor of Medicine (Rural Pathway) in a rural setting started at the University of Melbourne’s Shepparton Campus on Monday, January 31.
The degree is offered as part of a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University to provide regional students an end-to-end rural medical pathway and retain the graduates in regional areas. Previously, students completed their first year of study in Melbourne.
The students are required to work for at least three years in a recognised rural area within 18 years of graduating. They have all lived for at least five years consecutively or 10 years cumulatively in a rural location.
Head of the Department of Rural Health at the University of Melbourne, Professor Julian Wright, said he is keen to see the career impact the course will have on the new students.
“This is a really important initiative that will benefit both the students and the rural communities they will one day practice in. I’m looking forward to watching these students develop into terrific medical practitioners,” Professor Wright said.
He says the rural training will help address Victoria’s dire shortage of doctors in regional areas.
“At the moment, we don’t have near enough medical graduates opting to start their careers outside of Melbourne. We hope this course will improve medical services and long-term health outcomes for people living in regional, rural, and remote communities,” Professor Wright said.
For Isabelle Trevaskis and Grabriella Hill, who both studied Biomedical Science (medical) at La Trobe’s Bendigo campus, the opportunity to stay local and train in medicine was a no brainer.
“Having that support base from home gives you confidence that I wouldn’t have had in Melbourne. I didn’t want to move to Melbourne personally, so it’s been great to have the opportunity to stay local and be with country people that I get along with, to make new friends and new connections, while holding onto old friends from high school and everything else still around,” said Isabelle
Of the 30 students, 13 have completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Medical) degree at La Trobe’s Bendigo or Albury/Wodonga campuses and 17 have completed an undergraduate degree at another university.
