Rural Health Academic Centre, Ashburton (RHACA)

The Rural Health Academic Centre, Ashburton (RHACA) is a collaboration between the University of Otago, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ), the Mackenzie Charitable Foundation (MCF) and the Advance Ashburton Community Foundation (AACF).

Located within Ashburton Hospital, RHACA is a physical and virtual hub for inter-professional rural-health training and research. RHACA focuses on rurally relevant education, research, clinical skills, and simulation. It links a diverse academic faculty across the South Island.

Simulation suite

A simulation suite and training centre was completed in 2019. It caters for skills training and courses, such as the Rural Interprofessional Simulation Course.

Rural Interprofessional Simulation Course

A faculty development stream for interprofessional rural practitioners has also been described with the aim of growing a pool of simulation based education practitioners across New Zealand.

Rural Simulation Faculty Development Plan (PDF)

Areas of research

• Inter-professional education
• Rural teamwork and simulation training
• Procedural sedation in rural hospitals
• Self-harm in rural populations
• Rural models of care and health service delivery
• Rural nursing workforce projections and planning
• Rural oncology service scope and outcomes
• Stroke management
• Chest pain assessment in rural hospitals

Our people