The University of Newcastle’s department of rural health had 13 fifth-year medical students and six dietetics students sign up for the Tamworth-based rural learning experience.

“It’s part of a longer term plan to retain doctors to the country,” University of Newcastle clinical dean Dr Lauren Cone said.

“We also know that students who have exposure to learning in a country area on their training path are more likely to consider returning as a rural doctor, be that permanently or as a visiting specialist or to come and do a term at Tamworth hospital,” she said.

Attracting graduate medical students to rural and regional centres remains a challenge in the industry, however Dr Cone said the immersive experience shows the scope for career development in the sticks.

“We have a really good teaching facility, we have a really good hospital, we have some really good physicians and surgeons who are keen to teach, so it gives them an opportunity to interact with the up and coming staff and the students an opportunity to access some amazing high-quality teaching,” Dr Cone said.

The department’s acting director echoed Dr Cone’s sentiments and said there was still a need to attract more potential doctors to the bush.

“There is a tendency for students to end up graduating and heading back to city areas. There is a need to attract them to the bush. There’s a number of ways to try and get them to interact more with the local community and practise rurally, so they see there’s actually a lot of challenging work to do rurally,” acting director Leanne Brown said.

“They realise there are things that they can do and develop their career in a rural setting,” she said.

With only 13 students setting up in Tamworth for their final year, the students will be treated to smaller class sizes, which was seen as 

very beneficial to their learning experiences.

Upon completion of their year-long stay in Tamworth, the medical graduates will be looking to land internships and begin moving toward their desired fields and 

specialties.

Dr Brown said the program was not specifically designed to keep graduates in Tamworth, rather to show the opportunities in any rural Australian setting.

“The point is to get them to go rural, anywhere. And obviously if there is a need here in Tamworth then certainly we’d want them to come here. I think there’s only so many people to come back to Tamworth. We’re happy if they go rural or remote,” she said.

The program is a part of the Joint Medical Program offered through the University of Newcastle and the University of New England.