RAMUS and other scholarships, CONFERENCES, AJRH

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RAMUS and other scholarships, CONFERENCES, AJRH Reports CouncilFest 2013 One hundred and fifty two medical students commenced RAMUS scholarships in 2013 after being awarded scholarships in the 2013

1 RAMUS and other scholarships, CONFERENCES, AJRH Reports CouncilFest 2013 One hundred and fifty two medical students commenced RAMUS scholarships in 2013 after being awarded scholarships in the 2013 RAMUS application round. The RAMUS Scheme now supports 587 scholarship places for medical students with a rural background, demonstrated financial need and a commitment to working in a rural area in the future. More than 160 current scholars will graduate and complete their scholarships at the end of 2013, meaning that around that number will be available for allocation in the current (2014) round. The 2014 application round opened on 6 November 2013 and will close on 13 January Mentoring Each RAMUS scholar is required to have a rural doctor as a mentor. In the 2012 evaluation survey of RAMUS mentors, the respondents expressed strong support for the aims of RAMUS; with 86 per cent agreed that the Scheme is assisting scholars to complete their medical studies and 77 per cent agree that it is assisting scholars to choose a rural/remote career pathway. Mentors commitment to the Scheme was also demonstrated by the high proportion (86 per cent of respondents) who said they were willing to continue to be involved as RAMUS mentors, finding mentoring to be a fulfilling activity for both themselves and their scholars. Dr Aniello Iannuzzi, of Coonabarabran, NSW, and Dr Peter Vine, of Albury, NSW, received 2012 RAMUS Mentor of the Year Awards (see Partyline, July 2013 p.56). The annual Mentor Awards are based on nominations by RAMUS scholars and recognise the contribution of outstanding and inspirational RAMUS mentors. Nominations have just opened for the 2013 Mentor Awards. Both ACRRM and the RACGP have accredited RAMUS mentoring in their respective professional development programs under a Teaching Medical Students category. Alumni Through the RAMUS Alumnus program, the number of former scholars who are now RAMUS mentors is growing. More than 460 former scholars have expressed interest in mentoring in the future and 15 are current mentors. The Alumnus program will again sponsor a former scholar to attend the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation s TRAIL program for emerging rural leaders. The successful applicant has been selected; however, the TRAIL course scheduled for November 2013 has been postponed to March/April 2014.

The Alliance hosted three networking events for RAMUS scholars, mentors and alumni in 2013.

A joint student welcome and RAMUS networking breakfast was held at the RACGP GP13 Conference in Darwin in

2 The Alliance hosted three networking events for RAMUS scholars, mentors and alumni in A networking lunch was held at the 12 th National Rural Health Conference in Adelaide in April. A joint student welcome and RAMUS networking breakfast was held at the RACGP GP13 Conference in Darwin in October and a breakfast was also held at the Rural Medicine Australia Conference in Cairns on 1 November. RAMUS breakfast at GP13 RAMUS breakfast at RMA2013

3 Alliance staff also attended the NRHSN NextGen Conference in Canberra in August. RAMUS scholars with Susan Magnay, RAMUS Manager (back left), and Gordon Gregory, NRHA Executive Director (front right), at the NextGen Conference Administration The funding agreement with the Department of Health to administer the RAMUS Scheme has been extended to 31 December The Mason Review of Australian Government health workforce programs released in 2013 found that "there is some evidence to support continued investment in scholarships targeted at distribution, eg the Rural Australia Medical Undergraduate Scholarship (RAMUS)". The Review recommended that the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme be phased out and funds redirected to non-bonded scholarship schemes such as RAMUS, which is targeted at students from rural backgrounds and with demonstrated financial need, and to broadening support beyond medical students with additional funds to nursing and allied health. The Alliance has provided advice to the Department of Health about the recommendations of the Mason Review relevant to the RAMUS Scheme. A new database system for the administration of the RAMUS Scheme has been implemented. The regular fortnightly payments to scholarship holders have been processed through the new system since August and the processes for managing the end-of-year requirements for continuing and completing scholars and for mentors are being set up.

Other scholarships The Alliance continues to administer the NSW Regional Dentistry Scholarship on behalf of the scholarship s sponsor, Senator John William, Nationals Senator for NSW.

The Alliance holds the scholarship funds on behalf of Senator Williams and pays them to the scholarship holder and also administers the annual application and selection process.

4 Other scholarships The Alliance continues to administer the NSW Regional Dentistry Scholarship on behalf of the scholarship s sponsor, Senator John William, Nationals Senator for NSW. This one-year scholarship valued at $4800, is awarded annually to a student from regional New South Wales who is commencing dentistry studies. The Alliance holds the scholarship funds on behalf of Senator Williams and pays them to the scholarship holder and also administers the annual application and selection process. The scholarship is now in its fourth year. The application round for 2014 will open on 9 December Senator John Williams with current and former NSW Regional Dentistry Scholarship holders at Charles Sturt University, Orange. From left to right - Amelia Judson (2013), Alayne White (2012), Jessica Powell (2011), Senator Williams Conferences 12th National Rural Health Conference: Strong Commitment. Bright Future. The biennial National Rural Health Conference is the Alliance s largest and most significant project. The 12 th National Rural Health Conference was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 4-7 April The theme was Strong Commitment. Bright Future. and feedback from the 1,100+ delegates confirmed the event s capacity to capture and enhance the sector s energy and passion.

Thank you to our sponsors Conference Advisory Committee The Conference

National President of the CWAA, Marie Lally.

suggestions during the 12 month lead-in to the Conference.

and was facilitated by Ruth Smiles who has provided a full report of the arts

Speakers The program included 23 keynote speakers, 42 concurrent sessions and

The Opening Session was on Shaping a Bright Future and was attended by

Australian Health Minister and Andrew Laming, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary

A highlight of the opening session and the overall Conference was the amazing

The program and proceedings The program, full proceedings of all presentations

recommendations and communiqué, as well as some photographs, can be found on

5 Thank you to our sponsors Conference Advisory Committee The Conference Advisory Committee (CAC) was chaired by former Alliance Councillor and National President of the CWAA, Marie Lally. The Committee provided valuable advice and a sounding board for ideas and suggestions during the 12 month lead-in to the Conference. Arts and health Arts and health was again a strong component of the program and was facilitated by Ruth Smiles who has provided a full report of the arts and health activities which is available to anyone who is interested. Speakers The program included 23 keynote speakers, 42 concurrent sessions and 3 colloquia. The Opening Session was on Shaping a Bright Future and was attended by Adelaide Councillor David Plumridge, Jenny Richter on behalf of the South Australian Health Minister and Andrew Laming, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Health Services and Indigenous Health. A highlight of the opening session and the overall Conference was the amazing performance by Tutti Community Choir. The program and proceedings The program, full proceedings of all presentations including video footage of keynotes presentations the conference recommendations and communiqué, as well as some photographs, can be found on the Conference website via One of the strengths of the National Rural Health Conference is its capacity to generate widely supported recommendations from the rural and remote health sector. These recommendations can lead to action at various levels and help the Alliance set its agenda going forward.

6 Media The Alliance issued 11 Media Releases ahead of the Conference, which attracted some notice. From late March to early April radio and print journalists too many to count rang Penny about Conference speakers and keynote addresses and interviewed Gordon and others about many aspects of the Conference. Longer interviews with Gordon numbered 11. The Alliance has a full list of these interviews (and ones during the Conference). Seven articles including calls for abstracts were published in places such as PHCRIS Infonet (August 2012), The Nursing Post (October 2012), Get Healthy website (12 December 2012), Palliative Care s E-Bulletin (April 2013) and the AJRH (Feb 2013). Just before the Conference we issued three Media Alerts about Keynote speakers, Tom Calma and Louise Sylvan, Tanya Plibersek, and Rob Oakeshott. During the Conference we issued six Media Releases. A combination of these plus the phone conversations by Pen and Gordon ahead of time ensured plenty of media coverage by local Adelaide radio and other rural ABC radio stations and print and television journalists. Frank s digital magic and efficiency meant that a TV journalist could be introduced to Frank and get that day s keynote speaker footage for her news program on NITV that night. Journalists spoke to many concurrent session speakers about mining, rural doctors, Indigenous health, children s health etc about whatever their topic was. These calls were constant and it was impossible to keep track of the exact articles published, TV reports broadcast or newspaper articles printed. Some free-lance journalists would publish their articles later or combine all the information into one long article in the coming weeks and did not communicate when or where this would be published since they usually did not know yet who they could sell it to. ABC Rural set up a mini-station in the Exhibition Hall and interviewed Gordon, Lesley Barclay, Denis Ginnivan, Alison Fairleigh and a variety of concurrent speakers. Melissa Sweet and Marge Overs did an innovative Croakey Conference Reporting Service on the Conference which worked very well. They mentioned the beauty of having the wider engagement of the conference tweeters. They produced a Conference Feedback sheet, which indicated that the overwhelming majority of tweets were positive and appreciative of the Conference. Social Media Social media was increased at the 12 th Conference with three power-tweeps invited to attend. The #ruralhealthconf hashtag was trending in Adelaide and received a record 5.9m impressions. A twitter stream was projected on to the big screen at various times in the plenary hall which was met with mixed reactions. Networking Delegates enjoyed a variety of networking opportunities including a Welcome Reception, Conference dinner dance and Exhibition happy hour. Exhibition The Conference Exhibition was sold out with over 60 exhibitors displaying projects and products of interest to delegates. Awards and Scholarships The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation's Louis Ariotti Memorial Award went to Associate Professor Lucie Walters, a GP obstetrician from rural South Australia and Academic Coordinator at Flinders University Rural Clinical School in Mount Gambier.

7 The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation s research awards went to: Leanne Craigie, for research into the benefits of a Pepi-pod for Aboriginal babies who often co-sleep with their Mums; and Ben Ryan, who intends to research the impact of natural disasters on population health. The friends of the Alliance Unsung Hero Award went to Karen West from Mornington Island. Karen was nominated by Ara Cresswell from Carers Australia. There were three recipients of the Des Murray Scholarship: Phillip Merrdi Wilson who is training to be an Aboriginal Health Practitioner, Hannah Licul who has already contributed a great deal to the community of Broken Hill and Lucy Mercer who completed a Certificate III in Allied Health in addition to her Year 12 studies and is a very positive role model for her peers. Associated events There were seven pre-conference events held on Sunday 4 April. AHHA-NRHA-AML Alliance Rural Policy Forum, supporting rural Medicare Locals Medicines in the Bush Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Dealing with Depression: Mental Health Skills Training Black Dog Institute Writing for Publication Workshop Australian Journal of Rural Health ACHSM/FHL Rural Health Leadership Workshop RACGP - Using the ehealth record system to add value to clinical consultations Improving career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the health workforce: challenges and lessons learned in Australia and elsewhere. Flinders University and the Lowitja Institute A full list of these events can be found at: The Conference Proceedings has been published online with links to all presenters with a bio, abstract, full paper and, in some instances, a video of their presentation. Many of the poster presenters have also included a PDF file of their poster. There was a pleasing 47 per cent response rate to the post-conference online evaluation. Exhibitors also received an online evaluation specifically targeted at them. The names of those delegates who completed the evaluation went into a draw and the winner of the ipad mini was Melanie Bish, Academic Manager, Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University, Rural Health School, Department of Rural Nursing and Midwifery, Bendigo, Victoria.The Exhibition prize has also been drawn with Randstad Care winning a free booth at the 13th National Rural Health Conference in th National Rural Health Conference, Darwin, May 2015 Planning has commenced for the 13th Conference in 2015 with a contract having been signed with the Darwin Convention Centre. Travel Makers will be visiting Darwin before Christmas to meet with various accommodation venues. A comparison of similar conferences has been underway and a draft budget, timeline and risk assessment completed.

8 Work on topics, taglines, logos and themes will start in earnest immediately after CouncilFest. How do we improve at the 13th? Please feel free to brainstorm any ideas you may have about ways to improve the Conference in Darwin in Other Conferences The National Rural Health Alliance is currently considering options for the next biennial Rural and Remote Health Scientific Symposium, likely to be held around May/June Those options include collaboration with one or more national health agency. Leanne Coleman Conference Manager 12 November 2013 AJRH The Australian Journal of Rural Health Publishing record Seven issues of the Journal have been published since the previous CouncilFest. The issues published are: Volume: Cover Month Pages Articles Issue 20:5 October, :6 December, :1 February, :2 April, :3 June, :4 August, :5 October, Copies of these issues are available for inspection. Performance highlights The Journal continued its strong performance over the last twelve months. The Journal impact factor 1 for 2012 was (2011:1.00). Usage figures remained high: in 2012 there were over 151,000 full text downloads of articles (2011:145,000). While most users are located in Australia, there continues to be a healthy interest from overseas. Editorial and publishing Associate Professor David Perkins continued as Honorary Editor to lead the Editorial team, comprising: Professor Prasuna Reddy (NSW), Professor John Humphreys (Victoria), Professor David Lyle (NSW), Associate Professor Erica Bell (Tasmania), Professor Jeff Fuller (South Australia) and Associate Professor Christopher Roberts (NSW). 1 An impact factor (usually expressed as a numerical quantity) is a widely recognized measure of the number of times a particular article is cited in a three year period and is often used to gauge the standing of a professional journal.

9 A new triennial publishing agreement with Wiley Blackwell was signed at the end of There has been good support from Member Bodies for the business model introduced in There are two Journal Associates: SARRAH and CRANAplus, with almost all other Member Bodies opting to become Journal Affiliates. There has been a small take-up of individual subscriptions by members of Friends. Journal Advisory Committee The Journal Advisory Committee met three times since last CouncilFest. The Committee currently comprises: NRHA Journal Associate Editorial Wiley Blackwell Gordon Gregory Geri Malone (CRANA+) Chris Graf (Chairperson) Robyn Glynn (SARRAH) Tom Griffin Jo McCubbin Peter Brown David Perkins John Humphreys Prasuna Reddy David Lyle Erica Bell Jeff Fuller Chris Roberts Peter Brown Journal Manager 7 November 2013

National Rural Health Students Network Executive Report

National Rural Health Students Network Executive Report National Rural Heal Students Network Executive Report Hello everyone! Welcome to e July edition of e NRHSN Update. Wi e cold weaer now settled in and exam period at its peak, we d like to gently remind