Background Rural doctors have limited accessible professional development, barriers include time, travel, expense and relief staffing issues. Sexual Health Care education opportunities were lacking, so we have provided online, free, accredited education for rural practitioners that was relevant to their practice. The online education modules, which are unique, use a rural lens when addressing sexual health care needs in practice in rural communities.

Methods The Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health instigated the production of online learning modules. The first 8 were launched in 2016 and a further two have been launched since. Each module is evaluated by the participant upon completion. The modules cover practical topics in sexual health care ranging from sexual history taking, partner notification in a small community to avoiding assumptions in sexual health care.

Results 326 modules have been completed. The most popular modules were ‘Introduction to rural sexual health care’, ‘Cornerstones of sexual health care’ and ‘STI treatment and management modules’. These modules are compulsory for a General Practitioner to complete if he or she is completing them as part of a large professional development activity (known as an Active Learning Module). The rest of the modules are free choice; with the most popular module being ‘Privacy and Confidentiality’. The learning objectives were met for the majority of participants. Different aspects of the modules – format, references, learning activities were rated from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) with all ratings ranging from 3 to 5. Areas for improvement were video time length as some rural areas had difficulty with internet speed but the majority were perceived to be relevant to rural practice and the mode of learning acceptable for practitioners.

Conclusion The modules promote inquiry-based learning for adult learners and provide opportunity for rural doctors to critique and reflect on their own practice.

Disclosure No significant relationships.