Short Report Model for rural and remote speech pathology student placements: Using non-traditional sites and partnerships Debra Jones, 1 Diena Grant-Thomson, 3 Elizabeth Bourne, 2 Paul Clark, 4 Honor Beck 1 and David Lyle 1 1 Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health, and 2 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, and 3 Broken Hill Health Service, Greater Western Area Health Service, and 4 Burke Ward Primary School, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia The Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health (BH UDRH) operates a successful multidisciplinary rural clinical placement program in far western New South Wales. 1 However, until recently, the development of allied health programs had been constrained by the region’s limited access to allied health services and their capacity to support students. There are few placement opportunities nationally across the UDRH network for allied health disciplines such as speech pathology (22 students in 2008/2009; J. Ramsay, pers. comm., 2010). In Broken Hill, local primary school teachers and parents had raised concerns about the lack of paediatric speech pathology services and the impact this was having on educational attainment. We proposed a novel solution using a clinical education model 2 structured around student-run clinics 3 in the primary schools. The development relied on non-traditional partnerships with school education, a commitment by speech pathologists from the Area Health Service to allocate time for clinical supervision and work by BH UDRH staff to engage academic partners from a feeder university, recruit stu- dents and manage the placements. Participants, methods and results The program was piloted in 2009 and three groups of final year students (17 students) completed a fieldwork placement during 2010. The six-week placements were scheduled for school terms 1, 2 and 3, and each included orientation and three days of structured teaching on cross cultural education, primary health care principles, preparation for fieldwork and professional resilience. Students worked in pairs running clinics at local primary schools supervised by local speech pathologists. Clinical activity varied with each placement. The first group of the year focused on screening kindergarten children while subsequent rotations screened other chil- dren referred by parents or teachers. The students deliv- ered speech pathology interventions for children with straightforward problems, assisted speech pathologists in complex cases and referred to associated services if required. They also provided teacher and parent educa- tion. Each consultation was documented on a standard form, reviewed by the speech pathologist and filed in school records. The supervising speech pathologist referred children for ongoing treatment or further assessment to the speech pathology service as required. Individual student needs were closely monitored and tailored levels of clinical and non-clinical supervision/ support developed to enhance participant experiences. Students also participated in the local inter-professional learning program. The curriculum requirements for the placement were determined and monitored by academic staff from the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney and delivered collaboratively on-site. A total of 231 primary school aged children, includ- ing 167 from kindergarten (93% of enrolments) were assessed in 2010. Fifty-eight per cent of kindergarten children had a speech pathology intervention. Further- more, the number of new referrals on the speech pathol- ogy service waiting list has decreased from 250 clients in September 2009 to eight in September 2010 (D. Grant- Thomson, pers. comm., 2010). Both formal and informal feedback from speech pathology students, teachers, parents and health staff about the program has been positive and three students have already returned for an ‘adult’ placement in Broken Hill. A formal evaluation of the program is planned. Comment A greater investment in rural and remote fieldwork placements for allied health students is required to Correspondence: Ms Debra Jones, Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2880, Australia. Email: djones@gwahs. health.nsw.gov.au Aust. J. Rural Health (2011) 19, 52–53 © 2011 The Authors Australian Journal of Rural Health © National Rural Health Alliance Inc. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2010.01177.x