Learning Objectives

• Describe and explain rural population distribution for Australia as a whole, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
• Explain the need for a measure of rurality and the basis of the rural indices currently in use, including ASGC, ASGS and MMM
• Describe the context and diversity of rural and remote medical practice
• Discuss with examples the unique features of rural medicine and of remote medicine
• Discuss the attractions and challenges of working in rural medicine
• Describe the role and training of a rural generalist, and explain how this skill set matches the needs of rural communities

Population Distribution

• [%] of Australians live in [regional and remote areas]?
• how is the Australian population distributed from MC → VR?
• how is the ATSI population distribution from MC → VR?

Rural and Remote Medicine

• what are the 5 salient aspects of rural health practice?
• what are 8 key features describing remote medical practice?
• what are the attractions of rural/ remote medicine?
• what are the challenges/ 6 sentinel indicators of rural/ remote medicine?
• what makes rural/ remote medicine diverse?

Measuring Rurality & Rural Indices

• what is the basis of the ASGS-RA and ASGC-RA?