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New-graduate physiotherapists' perceptions of their preparedness for rural practice

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 04:46 authored by Romany MartinRomany Martin, Mandrusiak, A, Lu, A, Forbes, R

Objective: Providing health care in a rural or remote setting requires physiotherapists to adapt to a number of unique challenges. New-graduates working in rural or remote settings must respond to these challenges in addition to those of being a novice practitioner. This study investigated the perceived preparedness of new-graduate physiotherapists for work in rural or remote settings.

Design: A qualitative general inductive approach.

Setting: Rural and remote Queensland.

Participants: New-graduate physiotherapists working in rural or remote locations were contacted via a snowballing recruitment strategy.

Main outcome measure: Semi-structured interviews.

Results: Four key themes emerged from the data: (a) adjusting to rural life, (b) embracing opportunities, (c) stepping up to the plate and (d) preparing through authentic experiences.

Conclusion: New-graduate physiotherapists perceived rural and remote practice to be a challenging but valuable opportunity with many social and professional rewards. The complex clinical demands and unique cultural factors inherent in rural and remote locations were experienced as additional obstacles to the transition from student to clinician. New-graduate physiotherapists were satisfied that their entry-level training provided the necessary skills required to practise rurally and remotely; however, they expressed 'shock' at the rapid adaptations needed to provide effective service in these settings. New-graduates are confident that exposure to authentic rural and remote clinical practice during their training was integral to their preparedness.

History

Publication title

Australian Journal of Rural Health

Volume

28

Issue

5

Article number

12669

Number

12669

Pagination

443-452

ISSN

1038-5282

Department/School

School of Health Sciences

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

© 2020 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Higher education

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

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