Map your journey towards your dream career in Northern Queensland

3 October 2023

Straight answers to hard questions for rural docs

26 September 2023

Bringing out the best in medicine’s next generation

Mentoring and training focused on producing the best junior doctors and basic physician trainees is the key motivator for Mackay-based JCU College of Medicine and Dentistry senior lecturer, Dr Danielle Wu. Dr Wu, who is also a highly regarded Nephrologist at Mackay Base Hospital, says prioritising the training and education of the junior doctors who enter her realm is a great outcome for all. “We aim to help the trainees, it doesn’t matter which university or centre they have come from, we want to see the best out of the training time they have with us,” Dr Wu says. “The better the doctors are as a cohort, the better the outcome will be for the patients. We like to see our trainees getting ahead. We try to maximise the potential of all our trainees.” Pictured: Dr Danielle Wu (centre) receiving the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (MHHS) People's Choice Award 2021, as voted by patients and their families.  Why Mackay is at the top of the class for trainees Dr Wu is passionate about working in the coastal city of Mackay and its hospital, close to the beautiful Airlie Beach and Whitsunday areas, and is eager to highlight the full spectrum of training opportunities available. She says Mackay is an ideal training ground for junior doctors. “You will also be exposed to complex medical patients that are the typical cases you will see in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) clinical exam without having to look very hard for cases”, Dr Wu says. “As there is only one public hospital in Mackay, all the complex cases come into our hospital. There is a good case mix for the trainees who will see everything from common to rare conditions. As most of these cases are managed by the one hospital, they will have a wide range of exposures. “Trainees work closely with medical consultants.  We have most of the sub-specialties available locally and you could have supervision from medical specialists across these areas on a daily base.” “The trainees learn to utilise the resources they have to help patients. We tend to have a holistic and wider view of a patient not only for their medical comorbidities, but also for their psychological and social health.  The trainees will become very well-rounded physicians after seeing a range of interesting cases and pathology in Mackay as a result.” Dr Wu says the Mackay education team ensure the junior doctors work as doctors, under close supervision, and are not merely notetakers or observers. We teach our basic physician trainees how to make decisions to build their confidence to manage patients with supervision from early on in their careers. Maturity in decision-making, ability to synthesise complex medical cases, communication skills, and patient-centred care are important skills to have as a physician. “As the Basic Physician Trainees work closely with subspeciality consultants they learn decision-making directly from consultants,” she says. “The Basic Physician Trainees will have sub-speciality access to General Medicine, Cardiology, Renal Medicine, Medical Oncology, Respiratory Medicine, Palliative Care Medicine, Gastroenterology/inflammatory Bowel Disease, Neurology, and Infectious Disease. The medical department still needs physicians in Hepatology, Geriatric Medicine, Acute General Medicine, Rheumatology, and Perioperative Medicine. The medical department is expanding to care for patients locally in Mackay. “We also have an accredited General Medicine advanced training position with the chief medical resident position available for trainees who are interested in General Medicine training and developing leadership skills post-clinical exam. "We have a world-class bench-to-bedside gastroenterologist/inflammatory bowel disease expert, Dr. Robert P Anderson, who has recently joined us to mentor trainees who are keen on developing research and publication skills. 

29 August 2023

Help shape our future medical workforce

Each year, James Cook University (JCU) puts the call out for volunteers from a variety of backgrounds to play an important role in the selection process for JCU’s highly regarded Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).  The selection process is a rigorous one, with the university receiving upwards of 4,000 applications for the course annually. From this pool, around 650 will be invited to attend an interview with a panel. And that’s where you can help.  The panel is generally made up of one healthcare professional, a representative from JCU and a member of the community. JCU is looking for more volunteers across the board to help select the 2024 first-year medicine cohort.  As current and past volunteers will tell you, being part of the process is very rewarding. With guidance from the JCU Medicine Selections team, volunteers are well supported as they take on the important task of helping select a student cohort that is values-aligned with JCU’s commitment to rural health, and passionate about working in underserved communities.  As we approach recruitment for our 2024 intake, we spoke to two of our volunteer doctors who have enjoyed volunteering on the medical selection panel for many years. 

25 July 2023

Making a difference on the path less travelled

When it comes to medical pathways, Dr Mikaela Seymour has taken the road less travelled. Graduating medical school with surgical aspirations, Dr Seymour says she eventually realised the hospital pathway was not for her. Instead, she was drawn to practise medicine in one of the most disadvantaged parts of the world. “I'm one of those creative careers doctors you've probably heard of. I've certainly had an unconventional pathway,” Dr Seymour says in her keynote address at the 2023 AMAQ Junior Doctor Conference. Dr Seymour says her interest in developing world medicine started with a final year elective to undertake tropical medicine in the Western Province, Papua New Guinea district hospital. “I gained my general medical registration in Papa New Guinea and Australia simultaneously. I was this medical Batman, living dual identities in two different worlds,” she says. “Whilst I was here in Australia, I was assisting in advanced surgeries working in perfectly sterile theatres, with supply cupboards full of various types of sutures, dressings, and every sort of equipment that you can imagine, by comparison, my reality in Papua New Guinea was very different.” She cites findings from the Independent State of PNG Health System report, published in 2019, which found only 40 per cent of health facilities have a form of electrification, 55 per cent have any access to water, and only 33 per cent can transfer a sick patient to a higher level of care. Dr Seymour says that maternal mortality rates were approximately 43 times higher in PNG compared to Australia. “Another example in Australia that we take for granted is the absence of vaccine-preventable illness, and obviously, as a public health registrar, that's something very close to my heart. But again, these circumstances are very different in our immediate region,” she says.