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Interning in Mackay, the ‘gold nugget’ of Queensland

When it came to applying for intern medical positions, Shawn Steckle and his partner knew they’d have to cast the net far and wide. As international students looking to be placed as a couple, they realised going regional would be the best option. “I wanted to play it safe and get a spot early with Queensland Health rather than pursue the CMR route. So we flew up to Cairns and made our way down the coast back down to Brisbane, attending all the hospital intern open days along the way,...

Beer, boars and outback medicine

Within a quarter of an hour of arriving at his extended 35-week rural placement in Longreach, Matthew Riggs, was sitting down for a roast dinner with newfound friends. But this is outback Queensland, so it was dinner with a difference. “I arrived in Longreach on a Sunday at 4pm. I was just getting some stuff in from the car when two of the students came out and invited me to join them for a roast dinner at the NUM’s (nurse unit manager) house. I said, `Sure, I’ll come along&rsq...

Gamble into the unknown provides great dividends

Dr Kay Mbalamweshi’s move from Sydney to Mackay in North Queensland was somewhat of a gamble into the unknown but one that has certainly paid off some great dividends. “I had just finished my studies in Sydney and was looking for a rural generalist position somewhere in Australia. I got offered a spot in North Queensland and although I had never been there, I ended up choosing Mackay,” said Kay. After completing her GP training in Mackay, which included a six-month medica...

Finding home in the Far North

As a new graduate Dr Ayesha Sheikh found it was easy to become a little overwhelmed in the hospital system, regularly changing teams, working long hours and juggling a personal life. Having already spent time in far north Queensland as a medical student, she decided a move north to train as a GP through JCU in Innisfail might be exactly what she needed. “The main thing for me was how supportive, approachable and down to earth all my supervisors here were. I’d been doing long ho...

Psychiatry training in north Queensland

As a junior doctor, Daniel Gileppa was fascinated by the brain. A rotation in neurology confirmed his passion, but the more he learned about how brain dysfunction affects behaviour, the more he realised his true calling lay elsewhere. “I was very interested in disorders of the brain. I was very interested in the odd behaviours and thoughts that came from those disorders, and I realised that’s really more psychiatry.” A psychiatry rotation followed, and he realised h...