The South West healthcare footprint spans thousands of kilometres, covering diverse and often remote communities. While these placements offer invaluable rural clinical experience, the University Department of Rural Health South West (UDRH SW) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) identified an opportunity to increase the level of support available to Nursing and Midwifery students undertaking clinical placements in outer regional areas.
UDRH SW is passionate about ensuring students placed in rural and remote settings receive support that is equitable with metropolitan placements- without compromising the quality of supervision, skill development, or assessment.
Traditionally, nursing students on placement in outer regional (MM5) areas of the South West of Western Australia are supported through a remote clinical facilitation model. Under this approach, students are allocated a University Clinical Facilitator (UCF) who provides supervision and assessment remotely throughout the placement.
While this model is well established and ensures consistent supervision standards, it has notable limitations. These include limited face-to-face engagement for both students and host sites, challenges in providing hands-on support for physical skill development, and difficulties assessing clinical skills remotely. In a rural context, reliance on communication between site nursing preceptors (SNPs) and UCFs can also be more complex.
To address these challenges, and in partnership with ECU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, UDRH SW has introduced Onsite Support Sessions for Nursing and Midwifery students, providing an enhanced layer of support beyond the standard remote facilitation model.
This constitutes the trialling of a hybrid model of clinical education in MM5 regions across the South West. The approach supplements remote clinical facilitation with weekly onsite support sessions delivered by locally based UDRH SW Nursing Discipline Advisors.
These advisors work closely with students, site nursing preceptors, clinical facilitators and placement sites to:
- Provide face-to-face guidance and support
- Assist with hands-on skill development
- Strengthen communication between stakeholders
- Enhance student confidence and clinical readiness
The model aims to better support students’ learning needs while recognising the unique challenges of rural clinical education.
The effectiveness of this hybrid support model is being evaluated through feedback from students and clinical facilitators following placement completion. Early insights suggest the addition of onsite support enhances both the student experience and the confidence of placement sites supporting learners in rural settings.
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