'I could never have learned this in a lecture': transformative learning in rural health education.

Health indicators for rural populations in Australia continue to lag behind those of urban populations and particularly for Indigenous populations who make up a large proportion of people living in rural and remote Australia. Preparation of health practitioners who are adequately prepared to face the 'messy swamps' of rural health practice is a growing challenge. This paper examines the process of learning among health science students from several health disciplines from five Western Australian universities during 'Country Week': a one-week intensive experiential interprofessional education program in rural Western Australia. The paper weaves together strands of transformative theory of learning with findings from staff and student reflections from Country Week to explore how facilitated learning in situ can work to produce practitioners better prepared for rural health practice.

Setting priorities in the south west of Western Australia: where are we now?

Due to resource scarcity, health care decision makers must make choices about what services to fund. In exploring the potential for developing a formal approach to priority setting in the South West Area Health Service (SWAHS) in Western Australia, we carried out a qualitative survey of senior decision makers. Respondents indicated that resources were primarily allocated on the basis of historical patterns. Suggested improvements for priority setting include development of a transparent approach to priority setting, better intra-organisational communication, public input in the form of identifying social determinants of health, and having an organisational 'credible commitment' in planning processes.