Forum examines Graduate Tracking Project
David Campbell reports on the first education forum for the year which agreed that career decisions rather than graduate intentions will provide a better measure of the Rural Clinical School program’s success.
The first education forum for the 2014 year was held at the School of Rural Health – East Gippsland in Bairnsdale on 18 March. The topic of the forum was the Graduate Tracking Project conducted by the School of Rural Health. This is an important project that will demonstrate the effectiveness of the Rural Clinical School program in contributing to rural medical workforce.
Data gathered from both the Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) and the rural clinical school graduate intentions survey conducted by FRAME (Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators) will contribute to Monash’s Graduate Tracking project.
This education forum provided an opportunity for academic representatives of the school’s north-west and south-east education committees to examine the details of the Graduate Tracking project and discuss the next steps in the project.
Presentations from Natalie Radomski, Laura Major and Helen Chambers set the scene for the forum. Natalie presented a comprehensive overview of recent literature from other Rural Clinical Schools in Australia on factors related to their own data on graduate outcomes and intentions; and Laura and Helen provided an update of the FRAME and MSOD data projects.
Delegates then broke into three groups to discuss aspects of the Graduate Tracking project, with a view to recommendations for achievable future steps for the project.
It was generally acknowledged that the Rural Clinical School program has reached a point where we are only beginning to be able to measure data on long-term career decisions of graduates. It was agreed that career decisions are a far more powerful indicator of the success or otherwise of the Rural Clinical School program than career intentions of students or recent graduates.
It was therefore agreed by delegates to the forum that the current MSOD and FRAME databases will be examined from the perspective of their ability to demonstrate data on long-term career decisions; in addition, data sets such as the current AHPRA (Australian Health Professional Registration Agency) database and the Monash University alumni database will be examined and perhaps utilised if they are able to provide information on career choices of Rural Clinical School graduates.
It was agreed that this activity will be taken forward by the SRH Rural MBBS Graduate Tracking project working group.
Many thanks to all those who contributed to the success of this forum, including members of the planning group; special thanks to Deb Johnston and staff at Bairnsdale for hosting the forum, and the magnificent catering!
David Campbell, Director
School of Rural Health – East and South Gippsland