University of Otago Medical Students

2008 was the first year of the Rural Medicine Immersion Programme.  We have had fifth year students rotating through Balclutha since the first year of the fifth year rural attachment programme in 2000.  The aim of that attachment was to familiarise the student with rural medicine, get experience with one on one patient care and learn some procedures.   What had worked for them was a very organized programme involving the various branches of the health service in Balclutha and some outside organizations.  Thus students had experience, in a rural setting, of General Practice (group and solo), Inpatient Medicine, Maternity, specialist clinics, the Mental Health Team, District Nurses, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, industrial health, the ambulance service and a preschool centre. 

With the Rural Medicine Immersion Programme we wished to utilize basically this same format but increase the learning experience and capitalise on the continuity of care facilitated by the longer time frame of the attachment.

In 2008 we housed three female students.  Attached in Balclutha were Lisa Borgman (Wellington School) Jenny Fife (Christchurch School), Delia Smith (Dunedin School).  They did not know each other before the programme and they came into it with the knowledge that this would be a first year and we would all be finding our way through the year. 

We had rented upstairs accommodation in a ex hotel in the centre of Balclutha, just a block away from the hospital. This accommodation became home to the three students. We were also able to utilize a good space in a building adjacent to the hospital (Findlater Building) that had been purchased by Clutha Health First and set this up as a study room for the students with a large table, examination couch, X-ray screen, data projector and screen.

Throughout their year in Balclutha the three students worked with many areas of healthcare including being attached for a session with the Pharmacists, District Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists,  Ambulance Service and a child care centre and they all went out to Silver Fern Farms, a large employer in South Otago. The three students also joined the other General Practices in Milton and Lawrence; the Psychiatric services team and the Inpatient Ward at Clutha Health First.  Along with their busy days out and about in the various health services in our wider community, the students also regularly met with Dr Branko Sijnja who took teaching sessions with the students, and other time was used for self directed learning. 

While the students worked in the wider community, they also spent time and interacted with the Specialist Consultants from Dunedin Hospital. These included  Orthopaedics, General Medicine, Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ear Nose and Throat, Endocrinology, Nurse Educators in Diabetes and Respiratory clinics and the Dietitian. In their own time the students attached to the General Practices and the Inpatient ward to attend to acute cases. 

The three students who participated in this programme for the 2008 year have passed their final exams, with one receiving distinction. A true credit to both the students and their tutors.

For further information on the Rural Medicine Immersion Programme, please contact Dr Branko Sijnja, Balclutha Site Co-ordinator on 03 419 0400.