“I have learnt … a different way of looking at people's health”: an evaluation of a prevocational medical training program in public health medicine and primary health care in remote Australia

Figures & data

Table

Practice points
•There are very few opportunities for Australian prevocational medical practitioners to develop knowledge and skills in public health and rural/remote area health.
•A six-month prevocational public health medicine and primary health care training program in the remote Kimberley regions of Western Australia was established in 2001–2002.
•Removed from their normal clinical workplaces, familiar geographical environment and social supports, PMPs not only gained medical knowledge and practical experience (in clinical and public health management of sexually transmitted infections, immunization and primary health care in remote Aboriginal settings), but also developed deeper understandings of health and illness, and experienced considerable professional and personal growth.
•More prevocational medical placements in public health medicine and remote area health should be offered.

Figure 1. Characteristics of Kimberley prevocational program in public health medicine and primary health care.