About the Bendigo Regional Clinical School

The Bendigo Regional Clinical School (BRCS) is one of four established by the School of Rural Health. In 2001, nine universities with medical schools were granted funds to establish clinical schools in rural and regional areas in a bid to make rural practice more attractive to medical graduates.

Two sites

The School of Rural Health currently operates from Lister House and Mercy Street.

•   A school of nursing in a previous life, Lister House now includes residential accommodation for up to 50 students, as well as administration, tutorial and meeting spaces.
• The Mercy Street site is located between the hospital’s acute and rehab campuses. It currently includes a fully-equipped auditorium that seats 100, three tutorial rooms, a library and a clinical skills lab. New office and teaching facilities are planned for Mercy Street within the next two years.

Unique clinical training opportunities

BRCS provides clinical training for students in Years 3, 4 and 5, and coordinates one and two-week placements for Year 1 and 2 students.

Regional areas such as Bendigo provide a clinical training experience quite different from metro areas. Students are exposed to a broader range of general clinical experiences and have better access to tutors and clinical staff.

Just as important, they begin to develop the professional and social links that make a career in rural medicine an attractive option.

Expanding training facilities in northern Victoria

The Extended Rural Cohort means both Monash University  and the University of Melbourne  need to find clinical training places for an extra 30 medical students each year from 2009.

Since most of the training will take place in rural and regional areas, the Schools of Rural Health of both Universities are developing new training ‘hubs’ throughout northern Victoria.

The hubs are being developed in partnership with local communities and medical practitioners, and are funded by state and federal grants. They will incorporate accommodation and educational facilities, as well as developing general practice infrastructure to accommodate students.

A full year in a rural general practice

In Year 4, for example, each student will spend the entire year (36 weeks) at the same general practice in towns such as Swan Hill, Kerang, Castlemaine, Woodend and Bendigo.

• Two days per week will be spent in general practice.
• One day will consist of lectures or tutorials using new video conferencing facilities.
• The remaining two days will be spent away from general practice at community-based services such as psychiatric services, maternal and child health services, and the local hospital.
• Students will also return to Bendigo or Mildura several times throughout the year for more intensive, specialist training and group learning activities.