A Thai-Australian Rural Health Service Management and Medical Education Study Tour: Workplace changes after a year

Background: Knowledge translation is a global issue. There have been limited studies to assess the impact of cross-cultural exchanges in health service management in developing countries. Aim: To determine the impact (on rural Thailand health services) of a Thai-Australian health service management and medical education educational study tour conducted in Australia. Methods: Six senior doctors from rural northern Thai hospitals visited Australia. An immediate post study questionnaire evaluation based on study tour aims was followed by semi- structured interviews conducted 12 months later that focused on knowledge acquisition and changes in practice. Six Thai doctors were interviewed but only five transcripts were returned. Lack of time was cited as the reason for the non-respondent. The authors conducted a thematic and content analysis of transcripts. Results: The evaluation showed that the study was universally valued by the participants. The twelvemonth post study evaluation indicated that acquisition of new knowledge was universal amongst the group, particularly about the Australian healthcare system and programs to recruit and retain rural doctors. This knowledge was transferred to authorities that were considered to have the power to change policy. The ability of participants to implement changes in their local work environments was varied. A few participants implemented some management changes at the local level. This focused mainly on medical education. Other participants recognised that they lacked authority to make management changes. A barrier to the implementation of many proposed changes was the lack of authority and/or organisational support to influence the development of new policy. The importance of organisational support was identified by the participants as important to the pre-planning and selection of teams for future programs. Conclusion: Participants value interactive educational teaching methods. Educational organisations supporting such programs need to clarify their objectives, resource and empower participants adequately on their return to optimise the lessons learnt from cross-cultural exchanges in health service management.