THE QUALITY OF MEDICAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IN RURAL SETTINGS - THE LEARNERS PERSPECTIVE

During 1992-93, the authors produced a video-based teacher development resource kit for rural and isolated general practitioners and hospita l medical personnel who are involved in medical teaching. As part of t he development process, we surveyed 240 medical undergraduate students of the University of Queensland about their experiences and perceptio ns of teaching and learning in rural settings in Queensland. For appro ximately 90% of undergraduate learners, the experience with a rural me dical practitioner was extremely positive. The major positive features identified by students were: being treated as a colleague; being allo wed/encouraged to work independently; receiving feedback on their work ; and being given ample 'hands-on' minor procedural experience and/or teaching. The 10% of students who reported unfavourably on their rural terms identified lack of opportunities to carry out solo consultation s/work independently, lack of structure in teaching/learning experienc es, and lack of hands-on experience as the major disappointments. The results demonstrate clearly how and why the majority of rural medical teachers in Queensland are effective facilitators of undergraduate lea rning.