Rural Health Matters makeover
The review of Rural Health Matters over the last couple of months has revealed a fair degree of consensus about what will make the staff newsletter more relevant.
Frequency
- Monthly was felt to be more frequent than necessary.
- Quarterly, while suggested, was felt by others to be too infrequent resulting in either too large a newsletter or out-of-date material.
- Bi-monthly was agreed to be a good compromise.
Format
Time poverty was a consistent theme. It was suggested that a format that allowed the newsletter to be printed and read away from the computer would make it easier for many staff to read it.
(MUDRIH staff suggested that the school needs a repository of information to which staff can contribute directly and in real-time. It may not be a practical format for the staff newsletter at this stage, but it most surely highlights the direction in which the school’s intranet should be heading.)
Content
It was agreed that the Head of School was the most appropriate source of news about major operational and policy change, and should be the subject of separate communication from the HoS.
While it became clear that there are distinct communities of interest across the school, staff generally wanted to know what other sites were doing and how they are meeting challenges.
Subjects of interest included:
- Education activities
- Community engagement
- Student stories
- New staff – professional background, their new role, days/hours of work, contact details and a photo.
- Calendar of events, for example, journal club/research seminars, Ed Tech Inservices
There was much discussion about what sort of research information was sought and whether this should be included in Rural Health Matters or separate research news. Suggestions included:
- reports on graduate research student presentations
- conference reports
- papers published
- grant opportunities
- ways of disseminating research
Items on any subject need to be succinct.
Over the next two months, we will be working out the best way to meet the news needs idenfitied by staff and introducing changes. We are always open to suggestions for improvements.
Thank you to sites for allowing Helen to pop into staff meetings to ask about how to make the newsletter more relevant.