ReviewMedical education2025
Beyond the classroom: The transformative experience of short rural immersion programs for health professional students: A narrative review.
Review in Medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- From Simulation to Inspiration: Using Virtual Reality to Explore Rural Health Careers.The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Integrating rural and Indigenous culture into pharmacy education: experiential education, preceptor development and Indigenous ways of knowing.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Beyond the classroom: The transformative experience of short rural immersion programs for health professional students: A narrative review.Medical education · 2025Review
- A Global Health Immersion Program for Nursing and Public Health Students.Annals of global health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRural areas house nearly half the global population yet face a significant shortage of skilled health professionals, exacerbating health inequities. Short-term rural immersion programs offer a cost-effective approach to exposing health professional students to the unique challenges of rural healthcare. Transformative learning theory is well suited to examining how these programs foster critical reflection and perspective shifts in students.
objectivesTo explore the potentially transformative impact of short-term (<6 weeks) rural immersion programs on health professional students through the lens of transformative learning theory.
methodsThis review synthesised findings from various studies on the impact of rural immersion programs. Comprehensive searches were conducted across multiple databases, identifying 17 studies published between 2001 and 2024. Data extraction and thematic synthesis were guided by Mezirow's transformative learning framework, identifying key patterns and insights through an iterative process.
resultsRural immersion programs deepen students' understanding of the unique health needs of rural and remote communities. These experiences promote personal and professional growth, enhance critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, cultural competence and social accountability and foster a commitment to serving underserved populations. The collaborative role of the community, student cohort and academic staff in facilitating transformative learning is emphasised.
conclusionShort-term rural immersion programs offer invaluable and transformative educational opportunities that extend beyond traditional learning environments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.