Students enjoy cross-organisational community health experience

Gippsland Medical School students recently completed their placement at Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS) as part of a cross organisational experience designed to give them an insight into the range of services provided.

The Community Health Service hosted the 10 students this year, five in semester one and five in semester two. They attended various programs such as Creative House, District Nursing, Primary Intervention, Assessment, Aged and Disability Services and Drug Treatment Services.

The placements culminated in an evaluation day which, among the various formalities and perhaps as a sign of the success of the program, included an afternoon tea with a spread of home baked cakes direct from the kitchen of Student Placement Officer with LCHS Sue Townsend.

More formally, Gippsland Medical School’s Dr Margaret Simmons, CBP Academic Coordinator and Susan Smith, CBP Agency Liaison, attended to discuss the placements and confirm that the current program was meeting all student goals and objectives.

LCHS supervising staff Jane Taylor, Interprofessional Educator, along with Sue Townsend attended to give the students an opportunity to provide feedback on their thoughts and experiences during their placement and to finalise paperwork.

The student evaluations were all positive and the general consensus was that the current rotation was working really well. Some student comments were, “Keep the rotations, they worked fantastically”, “I had an excellent time and gained an appreciation of all the important services available in the community” and “learnt lots about the importance of ‘whole patient’ care and integrated care.”

Latrobe Community Health Service is looking forward to hosting the next cohort of Gippsland Medical School students in 2013.

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