Discipline of Rural Health - Faculty of Health Sciences - The ...

Seeking Assistance
While self reliance (and resilience) is admirable, it is always advisable that students plan ahead and seek
assistance before problems escalate to the point where they may affect academic performance.
Assistance may be required for non-academic matters relating to living arrangements, roster difficulties,
travel requests etc. or for academic matters such as deferral of examinations, or meeting assessment
requirements. From time to time other student matters arise that are outside of the sphere of living and
learning arrangements such as issues relating to the emotional or physical well being of a student.
If you are comfortable to request assistance within your local area this should occur in the first instance.
Failure to resolve an issue locally should be followed by a request for assistance from Dr David Mills (all
students), Discipline Head Professor Jonathan Newbury or Dr Sue Baillie (for those students not
resident/assessed in Pt Lincoln).
If an issue cannot be resolved at a local or Discipline level, the matter will be referred by Dr David Mills or
Prof Jonathan Newbury to the Dean of Medicine, Dr Randall Faull (academic issues) or Assistant Dean
(Students), Dr Simon Vanlint simon.vanlint@adelaide.edu.au (non-academic issues affecting academic
performance) or other university or non university service as appropriate.
Academic matters
Academic matters include:
Application for deferral of examinations or studies
Discussion/counselling re study options
Meeting curriculum requirements e.g. need or perceived need for:
o Additional clinical experience in certain areas
o Additional tutoring in clinical skills development
o Additional feedback in areas of need
o Access to additional resources
Non-academic matters (impacting on academic performance)
Debriefing
Distressing situations occur in the practice of medicine and can require debriefing to prevent consequences
that can distract from study and student progression.
Debriefing is usually best achieved through discussion with a trained counsellor who is not involved in your
clinical skills assessment. Referral to trained counsellors is available and can be arranged by your student
coordinator or academic supervisor, SGHRS staff, and/or the Dean for Student Affairs.
Alternatively students can access the free Department of Health funded Bush Crisis Line (BCL) that has been
established to assist Rural and Remote practitioners to deal with distressing clinical situations on:
1800 805 391
All students should visit the Bush Crisis Line website prior to their rural placements at
http://www.bcl.org.au/pdf/oc3_PTSD_BestPrac.pdf
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