title: Diversity and consistency: a case study of regionalised clinical placements for medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A major challenge for medical schools is the provision of clinical skills training for increasing student numbers. This case study describes the expansion of the clinical school network at The University of Queensland (UQ). The purpose of the study was to investigate consistency in medical education standards across a regional clinical teaching network, as measured by academic performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of academic records for UQ medical students (n = 1514) completing clinical rotations (2009-2012) was performed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for comparisons between clinical school cohorts and linear mixed-effects modelling (LEM) to assess predictors of academic performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 13 036 individual clinical rotations were completed between 2009 and 2012. ANCOVA found no significant differences in rotation grades between the clinical schools except that Rural Clinical School (RCS) cohorts achieved marginally higher results than non-RCSs in the general practice rotation (5.22 vs 5.10-5.18; P = 0.03) and on the final clinical examination (objective structured clinical examination; 5.27 vs 5.01-5.09; P < 0.01). LEM indicated that the strongest predictor of academic performance on clinical rotations was academic performance in the preclinical years of medical school (= 0.38; 95% confidence interval 0.35-0.41; P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decentralised UQ clinical schools deliver a consistent standard of clinical training for medical students in all core clinical rotations across a range ofurban, regional and rural clinical settings. Further research is required to monitor the costs versus benefits of regionalised clinical schools for students, local communities and regional healthcare services.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, Mayne Medical Building, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Mavourneen G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Public Health Building, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia. Email.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: David
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, Mayne Medical Building, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia. Email.
authors.forename: Diann
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D011793:Queensland; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019035:Rural Health Services; D013337:Students, Medical; D055815:Young Adult