Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcome Tracking (NAHGOT) study

Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcome Tracking (NAHGOT) Study

The Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcome Tracking (NAHGOT) study aims to understand why nursing, midwifery, and allied health graduates choose to work in metropolitan or rural, regional or remote settings. We want to explore the factors that influence their decisions about where they work, including:

where they grew up (metropolitan or rural)
location and duration of clinical placements while at university
intention as a student to practice in a metropolitan or rural setting
intention as a graduate to practice in a metropolitan or rural setting.

Nursing students studying The NAHGOT study was first initiated in 2017 by Monash University and the University of Newcastle. This collaboration has since expanded to include Deakin University, the University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, and the University of South Australia.

This longitudinal prospective cohort study links student data routinely collected by each university; to

survey data (student experience survey, graduate outcomes survey, NAHGOT graduate survey); and
graduate practitioner data collected by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (Aphra).

There is an urgent need to address the shortages of nurses and allied health professionals in rural and regional Australia. NAHGOT study findings will be used to inform both education programs and workforce planning, particularly in non-metropolitan settings. These will support better health service planning and ultimately improve health outcomes for regional, rural and remote communities.

Findings

Preliminary sub-studies found:

Students from a rural background were over four times more likely to have had rural placements than students from non-rural backgrounds. They were also likely to have had multiple rural placements and more rural placement days.
Students of rural origin had nearly four times the odds of practising in a rural location after graduation compared to non-rural students. Completion of a rural placement was also associated with rural practice location.