Teaching by videoconference: a commentary on best practice for rural education in health professions

Hudson Birden

qualifications: MPH

position: Senior Lecturer

Australia

Research Interests: Medical education through long term placements/clerkships infectious diseases epidemiology public health history of health and disease

Dr Sue Page Mitchell

qualifications: FRACGP, FACRRM

position: Director of Education

Australia

Dr Sue Page AM is nationally recognised as a leader in Australia’s primary care sector with expertise in primary care, medical education, workforce, service improvement and rural health. She has held positions on the Boards of the Northern NSW Local Health District, NSW Clinical Excellence Commission and the Australian Medicare Local Alliance and worked across multiple jurisdictions and services including public, private, and Community Controlled. Dr Page is a former President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia who has held a variety of State and Federal Ministerial Advisory roles including for Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol, Medical Indemnity, Pharmacy Professional Programs, Medical Workforce, Medical Services and the NSW Commission of Audit. She has served on the NSW Health Care Advisory Committee and was the inaugural Chair of the North Coast Area Health Advisory Committee, reporting to the CEO and the State Health Minister for services provided to residents from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads in NSW. As Inaugural Director and Associate Professor of the North Coast Medical Education Collaborative (a collaborative venture of the University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, and the University of Wollongong) she held senior responsibility for up to 60 medical students undertaking year-long placements in northern NSW. As Director of Education with the Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health (a collaborative venture of the University of Sydney and Southern Cross University) she held senior level responsibility for the coordination and management of the clinical placements for up to 300 multidisciplinary students from 11 different universities as well as up to 300 medical students per year undertaking placements of 1 month to 3 months duration. These two entities later joined to become the North Coast University Centre for Rural Health (UCRH). She is currently a Strategic Advisor for the National Disability Insurance Agency.