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Turrbal and Jagera Country
Level 4, 348 Edward Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
Health Workforce Queensland’s GROWing Health program had its own growth spurt this year, planting the seeds for rural high school students to explore healthcare career pathways.
In collaboration with Queensland’s Rural Health Clubs GROWing Health visits rural high schools to give year 7-9 students a taste of what it’s like to work in healthcare, as well as insights into potential healthcare career paths using interactive health activities and conversation. Groups of multidisciplinary students from BUSHFIRE (Bond University), Club RHINO (James Cook University), TROHPIQ (The University of Queensland) and Hope4Health (Griffith University) travelled to high schools connected with our GROW Rural program in Central Queensland, South West Queensland and North Queensland.
The BUSHFIRE team ran stations on vital signs, wound care, and anatomy models at Roma State College and St John’s School which proved particularly popular. According to Katie Shellshear from St John’s, "Hugo and his team were amazing with our students... They really engaged them, even during their breaks!" Further north, at Malanda State High and Atherton State High, Club RHINO were met with equal enthusiasm for the dentistry and nursing stations, resulting in several students expressing a desire to pursue health careers.
At Charleville State High, the TROHPIQ team ran hands-on stations on CPR, blood pressure monitoring, and snakebite management. Their activities were well-received, and the CPR station was a standout favourite among students. "The engagement was fantastic, and it was great to see students so excited about working in health" said one of the TROHPIQ facilitators. Similarly, at St George State High School, Hope4Health's paramedicine and radiography stations sparked interest, with students asking questions about different health professions and how to get into university.
As well as the GROWing Health face-to-face visits, Hope4Health delivered online sessions with Moura State High School and Redeemer Lutheran College in Biloela. The session format kept students engaged, as they interspersed career information with quiz questions to make the session both entertaining and informative.
To keep the health career ‘conversation’ going year 10-12 students from the same high schools are also invited to participate in clinical skill sessions with the GROW Rural university health students on their annual visits.
By facilitating ongoing career pathway connections between high schools, local health professionals and university health students through GROWing Health and GROW Rural a ‘grow your own’ approach is taking root in rural communities that will harvest future crops of healthcare workers.
