Reflections on Medical Education: Research

Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts

Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Surgeons Outside of Cities: New Research from UOW GSM

We’re proud to celebrate Dr Tracey Edwards, UOW Medicine Class of 2023, whose latest article has just been published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health.

📖 Read the full open-access article here: Surgeons Outside of Cities – AJRH 2025

The study, co-authored with colleagues Dr David Garne, Prof Rowena Ivers, Prof Judy Mullan, Prof Kylie Mansfield, Prof Andrew Bonney, Dr Colin Cortie, and myself, examined ten years of workforce data on surgeons across Australia (2013–2022).

Key findings from the research include:

The total number of surgeons in Australia rose from 4,568 to 5,724 across the decade.
Only 15.5% of surgeons now practise in rural areas (down from 16.9% in 2013), despite 29% of Australians living outside metropolitan centres.
Female surgeons remain under-represented, particularly in rural settings (12.4%), with the paper noting barriers such as long hours, lack of mentoring, and family/partner considerations.
Surgical sub-specialties other than general surgery are rare in regional and rural Australia.

This work highlights both progress and persistent challenges in ensuring equitable surgical care for all Australians. It underscores the importance of initiatives to attract and retain surgeons in regional and rural practice, including targeted training, mentoring, and support for women in surgery.

Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Grant success: future AI symposium

I am very pleased to be part of the cross-institutional team that will be delivering a symposium

"Harnessing AI and technology for equitable and ethical medical education"

thanks to our successful GEMPASS Professional Development Education Grant.

Congratulations to the whole grant team - my collaborators from Macquarie University, Melbourne University, Deakin University and the University of Notre Dame - on our grant success. Looking forward to getting this work underway !!

📦 Want to learn more?

Monday, 9 June 2025

Research update: Medical school admission processes to target rural applicants

I'm very pleased to share our latest publication in BMC Medical Education: "Medical school admission processes to target rural applicants: an international scoping review and mapping of Australian practices."

https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-025-07234-3

Alongside esteemed colleagues from Deakin University, Charles Sturt University, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, Western Sydney University, and the University of South Australia, we explored how Australian medical schools select rural applicants.

Our findings reinforce the importance of recruiting rural-origin students to address workforce shortages, revealing significant variations in how academic performance metrics and standardised tests are weighted across institutions. While many medical schools adapt entry criteria for rural candidates, greater consistency and evidence-based approaches could improve fairness and long-term healthcare sustainability.

This research aligns with international studies supporting tailored admission processes to strengthen rural health outcomes. We advocate for modified pathways that ensure equitable access to medical education and a stronger rural medical workforce.

📦 Want to learn more?

Friday, 5 April 2024

Research update : Australian health workforce - Disproportionate shortfalls in small rural towns

We’re very pleased to share our recent article published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health, titled “The Australian health workforce: Disproportionate shortfalls in small rural towns.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajr.13121?

In this paper, we examined national workforce registration data and found that small rural towns (MM5) — those with populations between 5,000 and 15,000 — are particularly under-served when it comes to access to registered health professionals. While much attention is given to rural workforce shortages in general, our findings show that these smaller towns are disproportionately affected, with fewer practitioners per capita than larger regional centres or metropolitan areas or even more remote areas. These small rural towns are in the unfortunate situation where they suffer from a deficit of private sector employment of health-care workers when compared to metropolitan regions, together with low levels of public sector healthcare workforce employment when compared to remote regions.

This work highlights the need for targeted workforce strategies that focus on smaller communities, not just broad rural classifications. We hope the findings will support more nuanced policy approaches, including the design of rural training pathways, funding models, and service delivery innovations that reflect the distinct needs of small-town Australia.

📦 Want to learn more?

Thursday, 14 December 2023

Research update: A comparison of rural and speciality choices between UOW graduates and all other Australian graduates

We’re proud to share our new article in the Australian Journal of Rural Health, titled “A comparison of rural and regional work locations and speciality choices between graduates from the University of Wollongong and all Australian medical schools.”

Drawing on data from the Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) linked to national registration records, we explored whether graduates from UOW’s rurally-focused program were more likely to work in regional or remote areas and to choose general practice as a speciality.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajr.13077

Our findings were striking: UOW graduates were 51% more likely to work in MM 2–7 locations than their peers from other Australian medical schools, and 57% more likely to have specialised in general practice if they were 10 or more years post-graduation. These outcomes reflect the impact of UOW’s selection strategies and curriculum design, which prioritise rural origin and clinical training in rural communities.

These findings reinforce the value of sustained, data-informed approaches to medical education that align with community needs. As longitudinal tracking tools like MSOD continue to evolve, we have a powerful opportunity to better understand how training environments, student backgrounds, and career stage influence rural workforce outcomes. We hope this work helps strengthen the case for ongoing investment in rural medical programs, and contributes to national conversations about equity, distribution, and sustainability in Australia’s health workforce.

📦 Want to learn more?

Friday, 20 October 2023

Research update: An automated protocol for assessing career rurality outcomes

We’re pleased to share our recent publication in the Australian Journal of Rural Health, titled “An automated protocol for assessing career rurality outcomes of Australian health professionals using retrospective data.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajr.13053

In this study, we developed and tested a reproducible R-based workflow that links AHPRA registration records to Modified Monash (MM) classifications, enabling consistent tracking of University of Wollongong medical graduates (2010–2021) across their careers. Using this approach, we found that 25–30% of graduates were practising in MM2–7 rural and regional areas, with proportions remaining stable from postgraduate year 1 through year 12.

Our open-source method provides a scalable and low-cost alternative to traditional survey-based workforce tracking, using routinely available administrative data. The workflow can be adapted for other disciplines and institutions, offering a foundation for more consistent and comparable reporting of rural workforce outcomes across the health professions.

Moving forward, this protocol sets the stage for ongoing, real‑time evaluation of rural health workforce dynamics—supporting policy-makers, educators, and health planners in monitoring rural health professional distribution with greater accuracy and frequency. We hope our work sparks broader adoption of reproducible, registry-based analytics to inform targeted interventions, benchmark performance, and ultimately improve access to care across diverse Australian communities. We hope it contributes to national efforts to address rural health inequities and makes it easier for programs to assess their impact over time.

📦 Want to learn more?

Friday, 15 September 2023

Research update: Should we extend the currency of cognitive ability test scores?

Very pleased our manuscript on the extended test currency of GAMSAT was published this week in the International Journal of Selection and Assessment.

“Should we extend the currency of cognitive ability test scores? Considerations from construct, equity, and psychometric perspectives in medical selection.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsa.12453

In this paper, we examine whether scores from cognitive ability tests like the GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) remain valid indicators of applicants’ abilities over several years. Using a range of psychometric analyses, we found that GAMSAT scores remain stable at the cohort level for up to five years, offering institutions confidence in their longer-term validity. That said, individual candidates—particularly those who prepare extensively—may still benefit from retaking the test within that extended window

We also explore important equity and practical considerations. Extending score currency can reduce financial and scheduling burdens on applicants who struggle to retake the test each year. However, we caution that preparation effects may advantage some candidates and argue for test-provider transparency on how currency extensions interact with fairness. Ultimately, our work supports the potential for broadened score currency—if implemented alongside carefully designed admission policies that preserve fairness and clarity for both candidates and institutions.

It was a pleasure to work with Neville Chiavarolli, Luc Le and Sean Pywell from ACER on this paper, and this work brought about the move to extend the currency of GAMSAT for all medical school applicants for graduate medicine in Australia.

📦 Want to learn more?

Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Research update: Identifying the "ideal" Medical School applicant

Virtually attending the AMEE 2022 International Medical Education conference from home (sadly COVID was precluding a trip to Lyon! ).

Very pleased to have presented my latest research findings today with an interesting and varied group of medical education researchers from Australia and across Asia.

This conference used a quite innovative e-poster system. If you're interested, head over to the poster stack https://api.ltb.io/show/ABPUR and have a look at our results 👍

📦 Want to learn more?

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