Resources

This report investigates initiatives underway in Australian and New Zealand medical programs to introduce greater flexibility for students into the traditional full-time model of studying medicine.

This position paper outlines Medical Deans’ vision for recruiting, training and retaining a workforce of motivated clinician educators to meet the training needs of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand face the challenging of needing to grow their workforce of well-trained clinicians to meet the needs of their populations. Growing the workforce requires greater teaching, training and supervisory capacity. Despite high levels of interest and demonstrable need, many clinician educators and teaching focused academics are in their roles as a result of serendipity rather than a clear and cascaded training pathway. The time is right for coordinated and strategic activity across universities, healthcare and government to increase interconnected opportunities for the development of clinician educators working to their full capacity across all stages of the training continuum.
This paper outlines a series of recommendations to recruit, train and retain clinicians who have chosen to include teaching in their professional practice.

Medical Deans’ submission to the Australian Government proposing reforms for consideration as part of the Budget 2026-27

Health Professional Students Course – Mental Health First Aid Australia FAQs

Below is the guide for students enrolling into the Standard Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) for Health Professional Students course

The Standard Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) for Health Professional Students FREE eLearning course teaches health
professional students how to provide initial support to a peer or other adult who may be experiencing a mental health
problem or mental health crisis, until professional help is received or the crisis resolves.

Below are some general FAQs that cover questions that may arise during your Instructor Training journey.

A Standard MHFA Instructor for Health Professional Students. Before commencing your application, please carefully read through the linked PDF below, which summarise the application, assessment and enrolment processes.

Medical Deans’ submission to the Australian Government proposing two reforms for consideration as part of the Budget 2025-26 process.

This Position Paper sets out Medical Deans’ vision to build and realise interest for medical careers in and with remote, rural and regional communities, and the conditions required to maintain this interest over the long term.

Access to a well-resourced medical workforce is key to ensuring remote, rural and regional communities receive equitable healthcare. Despite ongoing investment and innovation in rural medical education in Australia and New Zealand, access to medical practitioners still decreases as remoteness increases. In this paper, we recommend reforms to increase the appeal to medical students and junior doctors for a rewarding career practising in remote, rural and regional areas. These reforms need to account for the entire training continuum, from entry into medical school, prevocational and vocational training, to post-fellowship opportunities. 

Central to these recommendations is the need for reform to be place-based: driven by the people, needs and advantages of the local community. This paper calls for an increase in flexibility to support local communities to deliver training and opportunities. This paper also recognises the need for vibrant rural communities, and calls for ongoing investment to maintain thriving rural areas, in partnership with local communities.

Medical programs operate in a unique space in terms of BDH, as they span both higher education and the health system. A whole-of-program approach must consider campus learning environments as well as the clinical learning environments where many of those teaching students are employees of health services, not universities.

Central university policies and procedures on BDH are developed for students across all disciplines, but the research tells us that most of the BDH experienced by medical students occurs during clinical training. This guide is a complementary resource, bringing together a range of information and advice specifically relevant for medical schools (and other health professional programs).