Cultural Training & Clinical Orientation

At RAHC, we are committed to ensuring that you have a successful placement and will be ready and able to deliver effective health services when you start work.

Whether it’s your first time working in remote health and/or in the Northern Territory or you have some previous experience, we will provide cultural training, clinical orientation and ongoing professional development opportunities through a range of specially prepared programs and materials.

Before you leave home

As soon as you have a confirmed placement we will provide you with a set of materials comprising RAHC’s Cultural Orientation Handbook and a community profile (examples of these are depicted below) for the area in which you will be working.

The Cultural Orientation Handbook is designed to give you an introduction to working with, and living in, remote Aboriginal communities and to the cultural issues you will need to be aware of in providing health services.

The community profile will give you an overview of the particular region and community where you will be working including information about languages, history, geography and governance as well as some of the basic practicalities like community services and how the health centre in question is structure and operated.

   

Online Training Programs


The Remote Area Health Corps (RAHC) has developed a suite of online clinical training modules designed especially for health professionals working in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (NT). The RAHC Introduction to Remote Health Practice Program (online) has been developed as a training resource to provide timely, high quality, orientation and learning materials for RAHC health professionals preparing to work in remote health clinics and services.

The  modules currently available are Chronic Disease Management, Communication and Education, Mental Health, Major Incident Management and Managing Medical Emergencies.  

A total of seven clinical modules including and an online cultural workshop will be launched through 2010. Each module has been developed to provide a basic introduction to the topic and to orientate health professionals on how key skills and knowledge are practiced and applied in the remote health setting.

The program is available to the public and to all past, current and new RAHC health professionals including general practitioners, registered nurses, registered midwives, dental health and allied health professionals to complement the face-to-face training that is provided on arrival in the NT. To register for the program click here.

Each module takes from one to two hours to complete and has been developed to meet the criteria for professional development programs with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA). RAHC will issue certificates of completion for each module a health professional successfully completes.

Health professionals with continuing interest in remote and Indigenous health are advised to seek further education. Award courses for preparatory and ongoing education for remote health professionals are available through Flinders University/Centre for Remote Health www.crh.org.au/

On arrival in the NT


At the start of your first RAHC placement you will arrive in either Alice Springs or Darwin and participate in RAHC’s Introduction to Remote Health Practice training program. Northern Territory General Practice Education (NTGPE) is contracted by RAHC to run this 2-day program for all health professionals. We have worked closely with NTGPE to come up with a program that gives the health professional an intensive, comprehensive introduction to the many cultural and clinical aspects of remote health practice that will assist the health professional be a safe and effective team member when they arrive at the clinic or service to which they have been appointed.

For an overview of the 2-day program click here.

A more detailed description of the program including learning objectives and extended reading resources is here. This document is provided to all RAHC health professionals when they participate in the NTGPE program.

This cultural components of this program are delivered by local cultural trainers and thus are tailored and specific to the Top End or Central regions at the time of delivery.

Please note:  This program has been accredited by RACGP and RCNA for continuing professional development points as follows:

            RACGPQA – 24 points for the two-day program
            RCNA – 12 points for the two-day program 

Introduction to Remote Driving


RAHC has also introduced an Introduction to Remote Driving session that is provided to health professionals during their initial training days in the Northern Territory. The session covers basic knowledge of 4WD vehicles, awareness of driving conditions in remote areas and safety information. 

Professional Development


RAHC is committed to providing health professionals that work through our organisation with the opportunity to continue their professional development in the area of remote health.

RAHC is supporting a number of health professionals to get the NT-specific About Giving Vaccines’ certification and from time to time supports health professionals who have done a number of RAHC placements to undertake the highly regarded Remote Emergency Care and Maternal Emergency Care courses run by CRANA Plus.

This program will continue to develop as RAHC responds to the needs and requests of our clients – the health services in the NT – and as RAHC learns of the needs and interests of the health professionals seeking to undertake RAHC placements and improve their skills in the areas of remote health practice.

Future Developments
 

RAHC is continuously looking at ways to improve and extend the training and orientation programs available to health professionals interested in remote health practice. Our goal is to have a skilled and motivated pool of health professionals that are confident in taking on remote health placements on an irregular or irregular basis depending on personal circumstances.


If you are interested in knowing about any other developments in RAHC’s training and orientation programs, do register your interest with RAHC and we will let all friends of RAHC know about these developments through regular updates.