Community & Business
25 May, 2022
Push for regional students to pursue jobs in health
The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Rural Clinical School in Toowoomba invited students from Oakey, Pittsworth, Clifton and other nearby regional towns to learn and try out different health professions.
TSBE Health general manager Jaden Frame said this program is all about connecting schools with the health industry and trying to encourage regional students to pursue a career in health.
“We know that students who train in regional areas are four times more likely to stay and work regionally,” he said.
“That gets even higher for students from regional areas and who train in regional areas, with them being seven times more likely to work in a regional community.”
Clinical skills and simulation coordinator Sam Ward said there’s a huge shortage of health professionals in Toowoomba and in other regional areas across the country.
“We really want students to study and train in health professions in regional areas and to stay,” she said.
“This program is all about engaging high school students from the regions with all different kinds of health careers.
“When people think of working in health, they just think of doctors, nurses and paramedics, but
there’s so much more than that.
“We have audiologists and radiographers, and we want to expose students to those other jobs that they might not know exist.
“The program is for year 9 and 10 students and they spend the day rotating between six stations that represent different professions.
“We can’t fit them all into practical activities unfortunately, but we do have information and tell students about each of them.
“Each of the stations are manned by a UQ health student currently studying that profession.
“The high school students are given different scenarios and they must apply their learnt skills on a mannequin which represents a patient.”
“Some of the professions students can try their
hand at include nursing, where they can practice injections, as well as
social work and physiotherapy.”
UQ runs this program in partnership with Griffith University.
UQ hosts students from the Toowoomba Region, while Griffith University runs the workshops in other regions, including Dalby and Goondiwindi.
