Return of the unexpected: Rural workforce recruitment and retention in the era of COVID-19

Understanding farmers' barriers to health and mental health-related help-seeking: The development, factor structure, and reliability of the Farmer Help-Seeking Scale

PURPOSE

The aim of this research was to develop a contextually and culturally appropriate scale to assess farmers' barriers to health-related help-seeking.

METHODS

An initial pool of items was developed from the academic literature and input from an expert panel of farmers, rural academics, and rural clinicians. A draft 32-item questionnaire was then developed and sent to farmers registered with FARMbase, which is an Australian national farmer database.

FINDINGS

Two hundred and seventy-four farmers completed the draft questionnaire (93.7% male, 73.7% aged 56-75 years). An exploratory factor analysis identified 6 factors; "Health Issues are a Low Priority," "Concerns about Stigma," "Structural Health System Barriers," "Minimization and Normalization," "Communication Barriers," and "Continuity of Care.". Test-retest reliability was examined with a further 10 farmers (90% male, Mean age = 57, SD = 5.91), who completed the questionnaire twice (at 2- to 3-week intervals). Results indicated moderate-good test-retest reliability.

CONCLUSIONS

The resulting 24-item Farmer Help-Seeking Scale provides a measure of help-seeking that is specifically designed to capture the unique context, culture, and attitudes that can interfere with farmers' help-seeking, and inform the development of strategies to increase health-service utilization in this at-risk group.

Translating aspects of The National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023-2027 into practice: opportunities and considerations

Reforms that grow the capabilities of the health workforce are critical to improving outcomes for populations residing in rural and remote areas of Australia. Nurses are central to improving the accessibility of health care for populations in these areas. The Australian Government's recent release of The National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023-2027 is timely for identifying opportunities to strengthen the rural and remote nursing workforce. Further consideration of how the nursing workforce can be supported to translate aspects of the framework into practice is required. To achieve this, it is necessary to identify strategies to support registered nurses to develop capabilities stipulated within the framework. A logical vehicle for this translation is through the continued support of the Australian Government's Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program, which includes an established network of 19 University Departments of Rural Health. Leveraging from this national network that is geographically expansive and has a long-term strategic impetus for growing the rural and remote nursing workforce, provides an opportunity for translating aspects of the framework at a national scale.

Addressing the challenges of early career rural nursing to improve job satisfaction and retention: Strategies new nurses think would help

AIMS

To (a) explore the experiences of early career registered nurses in rural hospitals in Australia and (b) identify strategies they believe would help increase job satisfaction and retention.

DESIGN

Qualitative descriptive design.

METHODS

Thirteen registered nurses located in outer regional, remote or very remote (herein 'rural') Australian hospitals participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants had graduated from a Bachelor of Nursing program in 2018-2020. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and an essentialist, bottom-up approach.

RESULTS

Seven themes related to the experiences of rural early career nursing: (1) appreciate diverse scope of practice; (2) rewarding sense of community and opportunity to give back; (3) staff support determines the quality of experience; (4) feeling underprepared and the need for ongoing education; (5) diverse views on the optimal length of rotation and level of input into choice of clinical area; (6) difficulty maintaining work/life balance due to work hours and rostering; and (7) lack of staff and resources. Strategies to improve nurses' experiences included: (1) assistance with accommodation and transport; (2) social gatherings to enhance connection; (3) sufficient orientation and supernumerary time; (4) increased frequency of contact with clinical facilitators and multiple mentors; (5) prioritizing clinical education across diverse topics; (6) greater involvement in choice of rotations and clinical areas; and (7) desire for more flexible work hours and rostering.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlighted the experiences of rural nurses and explored their suggestions for how to overcome challenges in their roles. Greater consideration of early career registered nurses' needs and preferences is vital to improving and maintaining a satisfied, dedicated and sustainable rural nursing workforce.

IMPACT

Many of the strategies for improving job retention identified by nurses in this study could be actioned at a local level, with little financial or time investment.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No Patient or Public Contribution.

Does undertaking rural placements add to place of origin as a predictor of where health graduates work?

OBJECTIVE

To determine the work location (metropolitan, regional, rural and remote) of graduates in nursing, allied health and oral health disciplines who complete their professional training, end-to-end training, in a regional or rural area noting the potential inclusion of a metropolitan-based placement for speciality practice not available in rural or regional Victoria.

METHODS

We tracked the place of employment from the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) of all graduates from a regional/rural tertiary education provider. The student home address at enrolment, locations where they undertook all placements and their current place of work were described using an objective geographical model of access, the Modified Monash Model.

RESULTS

Seventy-five per cent of 5506 graduates were located in the AHPRA database. About one third of graduates were working in metropolitan areas, 1/3 in regional cities and 1/3 in rural areas. Students' origin accounted for 1/3 of variance in current workplace location. The more placement days students completed in regional/ rural areas was also a significant predictor of working in a regional or rural area.

CONCLUSION

End-to-end training in regional/rural areas is an effective approach to retaining a regional/rural workforce. Student origin is a strong predictor of working rural or regionally, as is undertaking placements in rural areas. This suggests that priority for rural/ regional student placements should be given to students in end-to-end regional/ rural programs and students from a regional/ rural background.