La Trobe Rural Health School
The La Trobe Rural Health School (LRHS) was established to provide better opportunities and choices in tertiary education for students in rural and regional communities in Central and Northern Victoria. LRHS has a strong interest in working with communities to improve the health, social care and wellbeing of people in rural and regional areas.
If you would like to study in a rural or regional community, with smaller class sizes, personalised teaching support and individualised learning, LRHS has campuses in Bendigo, Shepparton, Albury/Wodonga and Mildura and offers a wide range of health courses such as Allied Health, Nursing/Midwifery, Paramedicine, Dentistry and Oral Health, Health and Environment, Biosciences and Social Work.
Allied Health courses include Podiatry, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and the new course of Exercise Physiology.
LRHS recognises the vital role workplace learning plays in developing professional skills. Our students spend the last 18 months of their course in the field, learning practical skills and being taught by industry leaders, as part of our collaboration with local health and human services.
Departments
More information on the departments within LRHS can be found below:
Career Opportunites
There are a huge range of career opportunities within courses offered by LRHS. Many graduates work in local health and human services areas, in both public and private practice. There is a marked increase in community interest in health in recent years and the demand for graduates has increased accordingly. Studying with LRHS can provide you with a wide range of career opportunities both nationally and internationally.
New facilities
LRHS now has two new buildings offering state-of-the-art facilities and advanced simulated learning for clinical teaching. The new Health Sciences building is on the Flora Hill campus and the Clinical Teaching Building is located within the Bendigo Health education precinct, adjacent to the site for the new Bendigo hospital. These buildings complement the new dental clinic expansion and support clinical research opportunities and collaborations with local health and human services.
Clinical Teaching building
This brand new complex, set within the Bendigo Health education precinct, focuses on providing clinical teaching to students. It uses state-of-the-art equipment and multi-media facilities in specific, purpose built spaces and simulation laboratories.
There is a 12-bed, fully equipped, acute (hospital) simulation ward for up to 32 nursing students, complete with high-tech simulation mannequins (life-size medical dummies). It also has a one-person birthing suite, with full video conferencing facilities for teaching purposes.
Spacious, well equipped staff/student communal lounge and study areas have been specially designed to encourage students to stay on campus and include the latest in data connectivity.
Teaching rooms are designed for small class sizes to encourage focused learning, but are capable of expanding to accommodate 60 students.
Upstairs features a musculoskeletal lab which is equipped with high-end, video conferencing ‘situation’ cameras, which enables diagnostic simulation and recording of scenarios. These cameras can capture specific views and can zoom in to a scenario to show specific treatments. There is also an adjacent diagnostic viewing room where students can comfortably view the simulations.
A dedicated state-of-the-art laboratory for Speech Pathology, featuring a recording studio and observation room with the latest software and hardware available, will enhance learning and teaching for this discipline. A thermoplastics lab, used for the moulding of aids used in Occupational Therapy and Podiatry, is also a feature of the new building.
Even though dedicated spaces are provided within the building, the structure has been arranged so that all areas are multi-use and can be used by any discipline within the school.
Health Sciences building
The Health Sciences building is on the university’s Flora Hill campus and is adjacent to the existing Health Sciences building.
As well as providing teaching space, it offers comfortable study and break out areas for students, administration areas and the new Health Sciences Faculty office.
It has a range of purpose-built simulation areas, the latest in advanced teaching and learning, such as a musculoskeletal lab and a simulated residence which is fully equipped with all living facilities and can be used for a variety of home based scenarios, within different disciplines.
There is also a purpose-built courtyard, specifically for Paramedicine students, with two car wrecks for crash simulations.
As part of environmental sustainability, rainwater from the building is captured and used for garden reticulation and toilet flushing.
Research
LRHS is a leader in teaching and research in both Australia and internationally. It prides itself on the sustainable collaborations it has developed with industry partners.
LRHS specialises in locally driven research that has national and international relevance. Its research reflects its health and human services staff expertise. It focuses in particular, on issues of health and wellbeing within the rural and regional communities where its campuses lie, at Albury-Wodonga, Bendigo, Mildura and Shepparton.
LRHS is building on links it has developed with government, local health and human services, businesses, community groups and communities, plus national and international research colleagues.
Our professors have national and international reputations for excellence in research. In addition to our Head of School, Professor Jane Farmer, we now have professors in Rural and Regional Allied Health, Rural and Regional Paramedicine and Dentistry.
Key areas of research include:
- Health, wellbeing and resilience in rural communities (contact: Dr Virginia Dickson-Swift)
- Community-driven approaches to health and service development (contact: Prof. Jane Farmer and Dr Amanda Kenny)
- Innovative models of service delivery, including e-health & interprofessional teams (Dr Les Fitzgerald)
- Rural workforce & its education, particularly around interprofessional practice and roles for allied health workers (Dr Carol McKinstry, Dr Peter O'Meara and Dr Mark Gussy)
- Addressing the very under-served in rural areas, including those with intellectual and physical disability (Prof. Teresa Iacono)
- Musculo-skeletal research (contact: Dr Rod Green)
Higher Degree by Research Programs
The LRHS has a vibrant higher degree by research program. A Masters by Research or Ph.D. can be undertaken, supervised by research active rural staff. LRHS has an interdisciplinary seminar and events program to stimulate knowledge exchange and transfer about new and completed research projects. These are open to staff and higher degree by research students from across LRHS rural campuses.
Our staff
Our academic staff are dedicated and experienced experts in the field, committed to producing relevant research and strong student learning outcomes.
