What is rural psychiatry?

Rural psychiatry provides many opportunities and challenges in relation to clinical practice while in a relaxed and scenic environment. While rural psychiatry is not considered a subspecialty of psychiatry, in that the types of presentations encountered and the treatments employed are the same, it is an important and distinctive context for psychiatric practice.

Rural psychiatry will provide you with an opportunity to discover yourself and your country, as well as develop valuable clinical skills:

Variety of clinical presentations

Rural psychiatrists often work as generalists, treating a wider range of cases than psychiatrists in the city. It provides the opportunity for a diverse and varied caseload and as a trainee you will receive lots of hands on clinical experience. Further, rural psychiatrists also report more autonomy and less bureaucracy in their work.

Team work
Treatment is more likely to involve a consultation-liaison model, with the psychiatrist working more closely with primary carers and the community. This provides an opportunity to develop skills in patient management, consultation-liaison, and working effectively in a multidisciplinary team.

Transferring patients
Rural psychiatrists may be involved in travelling out to remote areas, and/or transferring patients to larger centres for treatments unavailable in the local region. This provides opportunities to develop skills in patient management, negotiating clinical responsibility, and patient transfers.

Telepsychiatry
Telepsychiatry can be an important aspect of practice, with communication technology being used to work with clients and their carers from a distance. Rural psychiatry provides an opportunity to develop skills using communication technology in your clinical practice.

Socio-cultural and environmental factors
The rural environment can affect the aetiology or manifestation of an illness (e.g. the effects of isolation in remote areas, impact of drought, social pressure in a small town environment). You will have an opportunity to learn about the impact of socio-cultural factors and get in touch with the environmental realities of life outside urban centres.

Aboriginal and TSI clients
Rural psychiatrists are more likely to be involved in services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. Rural psychiatry provides a unique opportunity to learn about indigenous culture and develop skills in the assessment and treatment of indigenous populations. Furthermore, you may have the opportunity to develop skills in working with interpreters and cultural brokers.

Area of need
Rural communities in general have poorer access to psychiatrists than people living in urban areas. Therefore, rural psychiatry provides an opportunity to improve the mental health and wellbeing of people living in rural communities and make a real difference in combating health and wellbeing inequalities. Patients are also more likely to appreciate the opportunity for specialist care as access is difficult.