GROW Rural

GROW Rural Pathways to Where You Belong

GROW Rural runs cohorts in:

SOUTH WEST QUEENSLANDCENTRAL QUEENSLANDNORTH QUEENSLAND

The seed for GROW Rural as a rural immersion program took root in the office of Health Workforce Queensland and was nurtured into being by the Future Workforce team who had oversight of the program’s development and delivery.

Building on research findings that identified the value of positive rural clinical placements to foster rural interest and intent, a place-based approach was added to include, not only rural health professionals, but community members and organisations as well.

We knew that connecting health students with community both socially, culturally and professionally was the key but also recognised the value of moving beyond rural engagement as a singular student experience to offer a program to a group of students who would visit the same nominated communities annually for three consecutive years.

Through the creation of interdisciplinary teams of medical, nursing, midwifery, dentistry and allied health students GROW Rural gives rise to a group culture that reflects the team-based approach and collaborative practice which defines rural health care.

Since the original GROW Rural was launched in Central Queensland in 2017, additional GROW Rurals have been established in South West Queensland in 2020 and North Queensland in 2022. Each of the current three GROW Rural regions commences a new cohort of 25-30 students once every three years.

Drawing on Health Workforce Queensland’s experience and learnings from GROW Rural as a rural immersion program, the scope of GROW Rural has been expanded to integrate building workforce capability to complement and support local primary health care settings and stakeholders.

As a workforce solution, GROW Rural now works collaboratively with each region’s practices, health services and targeted communities to grow, over the course of the program, structured pathways into identified employment opportunities for graduated GROW Rural students.

For GROW Rural students, the program offers pre-employment relationship-building, supported placements and the development of occupational and interpersonal skills required to become job ready.

For GROW Rural communities, the program offers opportunities to actively participate in being part of the workforce solution and to grow Queensland’s future health professionals.

The program for each annual event includes activities to allow GROW Rural students to:

Experience Queensland rural community hospitality.
Connect with people from rural communities and participate in community social activities.
Visit local health services and facilities.
Expand clinical horizons through interprofessional learning.
Participate in clinical skill sessions facilitated by local health professionals.
Enhance cultural awareness.
Be offered pre-employment preparation.