Ari's intern year in Cairns

For Dr Ari Isman, his intern year in Cairns was a good year. “It was very busy, but it gave me more than what I would have ever imagined.

“Every rotation was different, and I learnt so much from every single one of them. I had the opportunity to work in Mareeba. Being a rural town, I was able to accelerate my learning and perform more clinical skills and procedures,” Dr Isman said.

Ari’s passion for regional, rural and remote medicine comes from medical school at James Cook University. “In my 6th year, I was able to go to Emerald. It felt like I was working as an intern. I was seeing patients and making management plans together with more senior doctors. It was a good learning curve for me with a supportive environment. Having a bit of autonomy but at the same time having that support if needed. I know I would not have that experience in a major city,” Ari said.

By the end of his intern days, Ari was awarded the ‘2019 Queensland Junior Doctor of the Year’ by the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils (CPMEC).

“I was very excited to hear about the nomination. I was approached by the Medical Education unit of Cairns Hospital, who said that they wanted to nominate me based on a number of different criteria, one of which was teaching”. They put forward my nomination, which went to Brisbane, and they selected my name out of the big hat. It was a big honour.