KEY POINTS:
Senior medical students at Auckland University will, from next February, be able to spend a year living, working and studying at Whangarei Hospital and smaller hospitals in Northland.
The Northland Clinical Initiative, announced in Whangarei yesterday by Health Minister Pete Hodgson, will allow 20 student doctors to undertake a year of training based mainly at Whangarei hospital.
The fifth-year medical students will also spend time at smaller hospitals such as in Kaitaia, Kawakawa and Dargaville.
It is understood the initiative is the first programme in New Zealand to offer medical students the chance to spend a full study year in a rural area.
Behind the move is a partnership and joint programme arrangement between the Northland District Health Board and Auckland University's faculty of medical and health sciences.
In Northland, students will also work with rural general practitioners and district Maori health providers to give them an understanding of the health needs of rural communities.
Professor Iain Martin, dean of the medical and health sciences faculty in Auckland, said the trainee doctors would be exposed to a range of conditions and illnesses they simply did not see in big city hospitals.
Northland DHB chief executive Karen Roach said there was evidence that when students spent extended time in a community, they were more likely to return to that area and to have a positive attitude towards a career in that setting.
Under the initiative, students will spend 22 weeks in Northland hospitals, four weeks with rural GPs, one learning week and four weeks' selective study in Northland and four learning weeks in Auckland.
