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Committing to Rural Practice After RRAS
Auckland's RRAS pathway exists to grow the rural medical workforce. If you are accepted through RRAS, what commitment, moral or practical, do you feel to working rurally after graduation, and how have you thought through the challenges of rural medicine as a career?
- 1What are the clinical challenges unique to rural medicine that you would need to prepare for?
- 2What support structures would you need to sustain a rural practice long-term?
- 3How do you think about the tension between the RRAS obligation and personal circumstances that may change after graduation?
Speak it out loud and we'll type it for you (free), or type your own notes — then mark yourself below.
- Structure: why medicine → concrete evidence → honest reflection.
- Be specific about what medicine uniquely offers — avoid "I want to help people".
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- RRAS applicants are not legally bound to return to rural practice and there is no bonded scholarship, but the pathway exists because NZ's rural workforce shortage is acute; accept honestly that you were admitted on the expectation you would strengthen that workforce and engage with whether you intend to honour it.
- Name the rural-specific challenges: procedural breadth (minor surgery, obstetrics and emergency procedures that urban GPs refer on), professional isolation, limited specialist backup, the after-hours burden and keeping clinically current across a wide scope.
- Show you have thought about sustainability: locum cover, telehealth and specialist advice lines, team rather than solo practice, peer networks such as Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network, funded training, and employment and schooling for family.
Mark yourself
Score each skill against the question's mark scheme, then add a line of evidence.
Motivation for medicine
Look for: Demonstrates authentic engagement with rural medicine as a career, not just a means of entry
Ethics
Look for: Engages honestly with the moral weight of the RRAS pathway
Resilience
Look for: Shows awareness of the challenges and a plan to manage them
Systems thinking
Look for: Understands the rural workforce shortage as a structural problem, not merely an individual opportunity
Reflect & score
Note what you'd change, then give the whole answer a mark out of 10.
Your overall score / 10
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Your results
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Your score, charted against a model answer
- Score ring and verdict
- Skills radar, you vs the model
- Strongest skill and next step
- Checks on your wording