Rural Advanced Specialist Trainee Support program overview
ANZCA has secured Australian Government funding for the RASTS (Rural Advanced Specialist Trainee Support) program. The program offers online and interactive models of education to ensure that rural trainees receive a similar level of education and training to their metropolitan counterparts.
Previous initiatives
The last Rural Advanced Specialist Trainee Support funding round conducted by ANZCA was during 2005 to 2007 and included video-conferences that were made available to advanced trainee anaesthetists, as well as specialist anaesthetists, supervisors of training, general practitioner anaesthetists, international medical graduate specialists and “area of need” (AoN) anaesthetists in rural hospitals around Australia.
There was a very high level of interest from program participants who found the sessions valuable in terms of both relevance and updating of knowledge. ANZCA will use this experience to inform future delivery.
Future directions
Rural and regional trainees and Fellows may have fewer opportunities to access educational resources compared with their metropolitan colleagues. Face-to-face training is often not practical. Two models of education delivery which address this issue are podcasting and web conferencing (also known as webinars). While individually these models have benefits and disadvantages, together they can be used to provide high quality, accessible and interactive education.
The success of the previously run video-conferenced program suggests the following enhancements to the existing anaesthesia RASTS program:
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Increasing the frequency of sessions.
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Addition of new topics and modes of learning.
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The use of webstreaming/podcasting to enhance access.
Program objectives
Rural Advanced Specialist Trainee Support aims to enhance the value of education and training in a rural setting and address the relative disadvantage experienced by rural and regional trainees in accessing learning activities available in metropolitan areas.
The key objectives are to:
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Provide an interactive education program for rural-based advanced trainee anaesthetists at rural and regional sites throughout Australia.
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Deliver this program using both podcasting and web conferenciing technology to allow real-time and/or delayed participation in the sessions.
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Link the educational activities more effectively to other learning in the local clinical context (for example, local tutorial activities and specific clinical experience).
To ensure that the Rural Advanced Specialist Trainee Support program content and structure remains relevant to rural trainees needs, the ANZCA Education and Training Committee has convened a Distance Education Working Group (DEWG).
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