SEPTEMBER,Edition # 34, 2001

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Few need reminding about the problems of primary health care in rural or remote locations.
Services of all natures are declining, and many younger people abandoning their rural heritage for the lure of the city, and its wealth of opportunities.
There is a train of thought amongst some of my peers that to choose a regional location to work indicates substandard levels of clinical knowledge, and an inability to "deal with busy city life". Fortunately, through scholarships and academic incentive schemes, more rural placements are being undertaken by pharmacy students at the University of Sydney, and more of my peers realize exactly how much enjoyment can be had working in regional Australia.
The Pharmacy Guild, through their Rural and Remote Workforce Development Program (RRWDP), offer five hundred dollars to assist with transport and accommodation costs.
The Faculty of Pharmacy offer the incentive of one placement (five hours per week) off regular university work to fourth years who do a placement during the July break. Over thirty fourth year students took advantage of this in 2001, and from all accounts I've heard that they were widely enjoyed.
Thirty fourth year students; "Big deal", I hear you say; "Half of them probably only went there to get out of uni work".
This is quite possibly true.
But many of them had never ventured out to a rural or remote region for longer than a week, and for a lot of them, this only due to dragged out family vacations when they were younger.
The experience received is invaluable, especially considering that July was around the time that pre-registration positions were beginning to be thought about more carefully. And if five to ten students now decide to begin their careers in regional Australia as a result, this is a bonus.
The other twenty or so at least have some first hand knowledge of how life is different from the city.
There are rural health clubs at most Universities that host health science degrees. Sydney University's rural health club, MIRAGE (Multidisciplinary Interest in Rural And General health Education), has over 200 active members, of which 20% are pharmacy students.
The club sees its role as breaking down professional boundaries in communication, and promoting rural health careers to current undergraduates.
In some circles, MIRAGE has been dubbed the "rural health cult", such is the tremendous energy of the people involved and the seemingly endless activities. MIRAGE is a member body of the National Rural Health Network (NRHN), a federal lobbying group for issues pertaining to health issues involving students.
One of their major pushes for 2001 has for more health courses to have access to scholarship funds under the popular John Flynn scholarship for medical students. Keep an ear out for that in the lead up to the federal election.
It is heartening to see that there is acknowledgement of the greater need for pharmacists in regional Australia by the pharmacists of the future.
It is hoped that this awareness of rural issues is maintained throughout the professional life of these students, whether they remain in the city or take the rural road.

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