Rural Health Conference

Program

We’ve an exciting program featuring keynote addresses, presentations, and collaborative opportunities. See full details available below! We invite you to be a part of this event and contribute to the advancement of rural healthcare.

Saturday, 14 March, 2026

Program schedule

Program is subject to change. 

Poster presentations
  • Chelsea Hagglund
    Efficacy of the Routine Opioid Outcome Monitoring (ROOM) Tool in Addressing Barriers and Enablers of Opioid Deprescribing in Patients with Chronic Non-Cancer Pain (CNCP) for Regional and Rural GPs
  • Clare Murray
    Supine to Sitting: Testing a Novel Frailty Assessment in a Regional Australian Medical Unit
  • Joel McKenzie
    Selecting the ‘Right Stuff’: What Are the Important Attributes of Rural Doctors? Perspectives of the Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team
  • Kate Hudson
    Hand Grip Strength as an Assessment of Frailty in a Regional Australian Medical Unit
  • Liam Spence
    A Retrospective, Observational Study of Post-Hip Replacement SMS Survey Response Rates and Patient Reported Satisfaction in the Clarence Valley in the Acute Postoperative Period
  • Matthew Jensen
    Small Town, Big Responsibilities: Social Work and Confidentiality in Rural Mental Health
  • Nakiya Nuridin
    Selecting the ‘Right Stuff’: What Do Medical Students Perceive to Be Important Attributes of Rural Doctors?
  • Nicholas Kerruish
    Aboriginal Health Assessments in Mudgee
  • Olivia Finemore
    Accidental Versus Intentional Opioid Overdose in the ISLHD
  • Olivia van den Heuvel
    Let’s Get General Practitioners to Mudgee. But How?
  • Paul Isaac
    Are We Selecting the Right Stuff?
  • Pawel Kuterba
    Understanding the Wellbeing and Support Available to Unpaid Carers of People with Autism in Rural and Remote Australia and New Zealand: A Scoping Review
  • Daniel Koutoulogenis
    Evaluating a Simple SMS Follow-Up Platform in Knee Arthroplasty in the Clarence Valley Region
  • Sasha Rose
    A Thematic Analysis of General Practitioners’ Impressions of the Potential Efficacy of the Routine Opioid Outcomes Monitoring Tool to Assist in Tapering Prescription Opioid Doses in Patients with Chronic Non-Cancer Pain
  • Zeb Critchley
    Descriptive Analysis of Port Pirie and Clare Lifeline Connect Centres Client Data
General sessions
  • 08:30 - 08:55 | Registration
    Central Foyer (Ray Cleary Building 300)
  • 09:00 - 09:30 | Welcome to Country and Housekeeping
    UG03 (Ray Cleary Building 300)
  • 09:30 - 10:30 | Keynote Speaker: Professor Jennifer May AM
    UG03 (Ray Cleary Building 300)
  • 10:30 - 10:50 | Morning Tea
    Ray Cleary Building 300
  • 10:50 - 12:05 | Theme Sessions
  • 12:10 - 13:10 | Lunch
    Café on Campus (Building 301 CG02)
  • 14:25 - 14:55 | Afternoon Tea
    Ray Cleary Building 300
  • 15:40 - 16:00 | Awards, Summary and Thank You
    UG03 (Ray Cleary Building 300)
  • 16:05 | Networking and Nibbles
    Café on Campus (Building 301 CG02)
Workforce Development and Retention

Location: Ray Cleary Building 300 UG04

  • 10:50 - 11:05 | Leanne Cummins, Linda Deys, Julie Chase
    Breastfeeding at Work in Rural Health: How Supportive Environments Shape Inclusion and Professional Wellbeing
  • 11:10 - 11:25 | James du Preez
    Career Preference and Demographic Predictors of Australia’s General Practitioner Workforce
  • 11:30 - 11:45 | Wasana Jayarathne, Trudy Stone
    “Driven to serve”. Unpacking the Personal Characteristics of Rural Paramedic Careers. A Scoping Review
  • 11:50 - 12:05 | Katherine Riley
    Clinician Perspectives on the Feasibility of Telemedicine during Rural Emergency Resuscitations
  • 13:15 - 13:40 | Colin Cortie
    Rural Origin Has a Larger Impact on Rural Work Location Than Rural Clinical Placements. A National Longitudinal Study Using the Medical Schools Outcome Dataset
  • 13:45 - 14:00 | Kylie Mansfield
    Evaluation of a Rural Interprofessional Aged Care Clinical Placement
  • 14:05 - 14:20 | Tim Wand
    Collaborative Co-production of a Psychotherapeutic Skills Training Program for Rural Emergency Department Staff
  • 15:00 - 15:15 | Karla Horlyck
    Factors Influencing Metro-Origin Doctors to Choose Rural Practice
  • 15:20 - 15:35 | Kylie Mansfield
    Identifying the Barriers and Enablers of Multidisciplinary Teams in a Rural Aged Care Facility
Equity, Social and Cultural Determinants of Health

Location: Ray Cleary Building 300 UG05

  • 10:50 - 11:05 | Meg Kelly
    Promoting a Strengths-based Medical Curriculum: An Exploration of Embedding the Cultural Determinants of Health
  • 11:10 - 11:25 | Clare O'Toole
    Impacts of Remoteness on ADHD Assessment Practices
  • 11:30 - 11:45 | Julie Burrows
    Patterns in Emergency Department Presentations of Colorectal Cancer Patients in Rural and Metropolitan Regions of HNELHD
  • 11:50 - 12:05 | Naomi Viret, Jamie Rose
    A 4-Pillared Approach to Increasing Equity in Rural Mental Health
  • 13:15 - 13:40 | Nicole Reilly
    Examining Geographical Variation in Psychological Distress During Pregnancy: A National Australian Cohort Study
  • 13:45 - 14:00 | Lizz Gerlowska
    Long Acting but not Long Distance: Bridging Rural Contraceptive Gaps. Outcomes and Insights from the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Rural LARC Clinic
  • 14:05 - 14:20 | Cate Melville, Alyssa Marshall, Kirsty van Grinsven
    Foot Health First: Empowering Communities in Chronic Disease Management
  • 15:00 - 15:15 | Bill Pitt
    Understanding the Epidemiological Trends of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Region (2013 - 2024). A Retrospective Analysis of Surveillance Data
  • 15:20 - 15:35 | Desi Yunitasari, Devi Yusvitasari, Bahrul Fuad
    From Volunteers to Essential Workers: Legal Recognition and Gender Justice for Women Health Workers in Indonesia’s Rural Health System
Community Engagement and Local Partnerships

Location: Ray Cleary Building 300 UG03

  • 10:50 - 11:05 | Orry Berry, Naomi Viret
    You’re our priority too. Equity for Aboriginal communities in the rural mental health space
  • 11:10 - 11:25 | Emily Detourettes, Karla Kuzmins, Ashley Matthews
    The RISE Project (Rural Immersion Student Experience)
  • 11:30 - 11:45 | No presentation scheduled
  • 11:50 - 12:05 | Stephanie Marsh
    OPTIMASGP. Aligning Implementation Strategies with the COM-B Model and Theoretical Domains Framework
  • 13:15 - 13:40 | Lyndal Parker Newlyn
    Choosing Tomorrow’s Rural Doctors. An Analysis of Medical Student Selection in an Australian Rural Context
  • 14:45 - 15:00 | Ayele Semachew Kasa
    On the Relationship Between Frailty, Nutritional Status, Depression and Quality of Life Among Older People
  • 15:00 - 15:15
    No presentation scheduled
  • 15:05 - 15:20
    No presentation scheduled
  • 15:20 - 15:35
    No presentation scheduled