Departing last Thursday from Sydney, 20 healthcare students embarked on RDN's first 2025 Go Rural road trip. The students toured the central northern region of NSW by bus, with stops at Mudgee, Coonabarabran, Moree, Warialda and Tamworth.

Whilst visiting Tamworth, NBN News television captured the students' exploration of the Tamworth Base Hospital, reporting on the importance of supporting young people seeking careers in rural health settings.

“It’s really important that students get an opportunity to see what working in a rural setting looks like as an undergraduate, so when they graduate they can make a better informed decision about where they might want to work,” RDN’s Go Rural Program Lead Sam Zelinski told Gabriella Warner of NBN News.

“It’s been really successful. We’ve had plenty of students who have been on the trips before who have gone on to take positions in regional hospitals and are still working in rural health.” 

Organised by RDN with funding from the Department of Health and Aged Care, Go Rural road trips are open to all disciplines and focus particularly on selecting students with metropolitan backgrounds. There were eight students of medicine, five of physiotherapy, four of nursing, two of paramedicine, and one of psychology on the tour. 

 

• View NBN News report

• Read more about the program.

 

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Related reading: 

• Go Rural health student road trip tours the central north (2025)
• RDN’s Go Rural road trip “absolutely solidified my desire to work rurally” (2024)
• Go Rural #1 an “enlightening” experience as 20 healthcare students experience northwest NSW (2024)