Division of Rural Hospital Medicine
The Division's overall goal is to improve the health and well being of rural New Zealanders through high quality rural hospital medicine.
The Division is a sub-faculty of the RNZCGP's Rural Faculty.
The main reason it sits as a semi-autonomous body within the existing RNZCGP infrastructure is because even though many rural hospital doctors are general practitioners, many are not. Rural hospital doctors (who are not general practitioners) consider much of their work is outside the current general practitioner scope of practice.
The Division supports rural hospital doctors by:
- Defining the professional standards and body of knowledge required for Rural Hospital Medicine
- Providing an accredited training programme to attain Fellowship of Rural Hospital Medicine and awarding appropriate qualifications and certification for skills and experience
- Ensuring ongoing education and collegial support to practitioners of Rural Hospital Medicine
- Promoting rural health research
- Promoting Rural Hospital Medicine as a vocation
The Division holds educational links to The Australian College of Rural & Remote Medicine (ACRRM), The Australian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) through the Division's Board of Studies.