Tradition and technology: teaching rural medicine using an internet discussion board.

Introduction: The aim of the Rural Medicine Rotation (RMR) at the University of Queensland is to give all third year medical students exposure to, and an understanding of, clinical practice in Australian rural or remote locations. Because the primary role of the Rural Clinical School is to improve medical recruitment and retention in rural areas, the provision of positive student learning experiences and subsequent ability to make adequately informed rural career choices is of fundamental importance. A difficulty in achieving this is the relatively short period of student clinical placements, in only one or two rural or remote locations.

Planning research in rural and remote areas.

Introduction: In order to set a regional research agenda, an interactive research workshop was planned by the joint University of Queensland and University of Southern Quennsland Centre for Rural and Remote Area Health (CRRAH), in which researchers and regional organisations would meet together to discuss and prioritise local research needs, then formulate constructive ideas and activities.

Methods: Selection of Participants: Organisations representing all key consumer, academic and health professionals within the Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia region were sent a letter inviting them to attend and to send at least one representative, resulting in a total of 75 workshop participants from 45 organisations representing 20 separate entities. The Design of the Workshop: The workshop was planned as an interactive research workshop, with a preliminary brainstorming to identify and prioritise topics, followed by facilitated small group discussions, and finally presentations to the reassembled total group.

Triage nurse perceptions of the use, reliability and acceptability of the Toowoomba Adult Triage Trauma Tool (TATTT).

Objective: The 'Toowoomba Adult Triage Trauma Tool' (TATTT) is a computerised clinical decision support tool developed to provide an evidence-based, valid and consistent method of triage assessment and categorisation. The objective of this study was to determine the most appropriate training and testing strategy for implementing the TATTT and to evaluate its acceptability for assisting in the triage prioritization process.

Methods: Triage nurses (15) from two hospitals underwent training in the TATTT and were tested on its application.