Co-design of innovative rural community placements to address workforce needs: Insights from a UDRH

Introduction/background:Aboriginal health, mental health and disability, early childhood intervention, and chronic care are recognised areas of need for rural heath workforce. These needs are compounded by changes in the service landscape resulting from commissioned services under Primary Health Networks and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Workplace learning models and curricula are not always agile enough to adapt to these changes which present challenges for accessing clinical placement and supervision, especially for allied health. We have engaged with healthcare services across our footprint to co-design, deliver and evaluate student placement models that encompass interprofessional learning, service learning, shared and remote supervision, and virtual models of care using telehealth.