Stories and Media
Stories and Media
Featured Stories
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.
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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.
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18 July 2023
How attending the RANZCP Congress will be of benefit for working rurally
Jo Kaczmarek is a final-year JCU medical student who attended the RANZCP 2023 Congress during her Rural Internship rotation. She recently shared her experience from the congress and why the 2024 event will be a must-attend for rural GPs interested in mental health. If you’re a rural doctor with Advanced Skills Training (AST) in mental health, it’s a no-brainer! You should go to the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Congress to keep current, meet like-minded colleagues from across Australia and NZ, and network with Psychiatrists (who are a very social bunch by the way!). Next year’s Congress will be on Ngunnawal land (Canberra) from 19-24 May 2024 and it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the very first Congress, so it’s shaping up to be huge! This blog is for the rest of you rural doctors out there – let me try to convince you why the Congress is beneficial for you to attend!
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1 June 2023
Tropical paradise the right fit for new intern
When it was time set down roots after graduation, Cairns local Dr Georgia Krause had no desire to look too far afield. The JCU graduate is one of Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service’s newest doctors, currently undertaking her general medicine rotation and loving life in picturesque Far North Queensland. For Dr Krause, medicine and nature intersect, with the Cairns region proving the ideal playground to explore this holistic side of practice as she traverses her career working to heal both people and the planet. But it’s not just the natural beauty of the tropical north that Dr Krause finds endearing. She said the close ties and integrity of the humans in this region continues to impress. “In places like Mossman and the Daintree I’ve seen first-hand how stoic the locals are and just how strong the sense of community is here. “I think that is important to many but I recognize this is particularly important to me, it forms a sense of fulfillment, purpose and belonging and that’s what I want in my career long term,” she says. “I loved being in Mossman for that reason, the people get to know you by first name. You'd see them at the local market, grocery store and on the cable ferry that carries you across the Daintree River, and they always greet you with a smile, I want to live and work somewhere where that is possible. “I see myself living and working in the Mossman or wider Cape York Peninsula area, because I feel very deeply connected to this community and to give back through my profession would be extremely rewarding.”
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16 May 2023
An 'Accidental' Rural GP in the making
Eager to escape the South East Queensland rat race, newly minted doctor, Tom Shannon, decided Cairns looked far enough away from the hustle and bustle. Currently working as a GP registrar at Mareeba’s Amaroo Medical Centre, Dr Shannon says he’s truly found his groove here in the tropical north. “After finishing medical school in Brisbane I was mulling over my preferences in terms of hospitals, I felt like doing something completely different and I haven’t looked back,” he said. Dr Shannon said the camaraderie among the Cairns hospital doctors struck him immediately. “The cohort of interns in Cairns were mostly JCU graduates. They were very tight-knit but very welcoming to outsiders as well. I immediately felt at home at the hospital and I continue to fall more in love with Northern Queensland the longer I am here,” he says. “My experience in Southern Queensland probably wasn't as positive, I remember feeling quite disjointed, like a bit of a wallflower and not really engaged. But at the Cairns hospital I immediately felt a very close, collegial atmosphere.”
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9 May 2023
Meet Dr Stephen Lambert, Director of Clinical Training at Mackay Hospital
Medical education means much more than teaching for Dr Stephen Lambert, the Director of Clinical Training at Mackay Hospital. Dr Lambert, who landed in Mackay a decade ago as an International Medical Graduate from South Africa, takes a holistic approach to nurturing junior doctors’ development as head of the hospital’s Medical Education Unit. “The Medical Education Unit looks after interns and doctors who aren't on a vocational training program. We make sure doctors are well supervised and look after their welfare,” he says. “For us, wellbeing includes career development, so making sure doctors have good career counselling, that their career pathways are mapped out, not only in Mackay but across the North Queensland education programs. “It’s also ensuring they get good mentorship and coaching on the floor. We try to provide a supportive environment by creating a culture where doctors feel like they're getting coaching, mentoring and supervision while working.” Dr Lambert, a general practitioner at Southside Medical, started his Australian medicine career in Mackay, having completed his internship in Johannesburg. “I came to Mackay as a Junior House Officer, and I've been here ever since. I got regional rotations in Proserpine, Sarina and Clermont, which was really amazing in terms of preparing me for getting on to the GP training program,” he says. “My extended skill as a GP registrar was medical education. I was involved in delivering lectures to interns and doing simulations. We've had a number of GPs in Mackay come through the medical education registrar role and complete that extended skill here.” Mackay has plenty to offer interns and junior doctors, in addition to the professional and personal rewards of diverse practice in an area of need. Quality mentoring “The advantage of medical training in Mackay is the proximity of the experts – senior medical officers and consultants – to the intern. They're prepared to coach and mentor students, interns, junior medical officers as part of their day-to-day business. We're very keen on making sure interns actually operate as doctors, so you're not just the scribe on the team, you're not just shadowing – you’re actually treating patients, but you've got close supervision. “You've got someone watching over your shoulder, you've got someone who's coaching you through your career. If you look at the medical education evidence, that's the best learning is actually doing it with someone watching you and guiding you along the way. And I think Mackay does that really, really well. We don't have all the big hotshot professors in their fields, but we do have experts who are willing to invest their time and effort into your development.” Building your CV “You can complete all of your GP training in Mackay. Rural generalists can do advanced skill training in paediatrics, mental health, obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthetics, and we hope to get general medicine across the line. You can do all of your psychiatry training in Mackay. If you're looking at critical care specialties like Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care Medicine, and Anaesthetics, you can do about half of your training in Mackay. In terms of basic physician training and surgical training, most only spent about a year in Mackay. “Mackay is a great place to get on to the surgery and orthopaedics programs. You'll get your logbook and your research components done as a Principal House Officer, which will set you up to get on to the program. Mackay is a good place to get the theatre experience and the research and build your CV to get on to those programs. “In terms of the physician and paediatric sub-programs, once again it’s a good place to do one to two years of basic physician training. For those specialties, it's a good place to prepare for exams, because you're exposed to a wide variety of patients. You're not spending all your time in a subspecialty; you're getting a little bit of everything, which is good for exam prep.” Research support “Medical education falls under our innovation and research portfolio, or MIRI, which is the Mackay Institute for Research and Innovation. We're really keen on making sure junior doctors get research opportunities. We can guide and mentor them through a quality improvement project, such as an audit, which is often the first place for a good research project. There are opportunities for research projects, poster presentations and working with special research programs.” General practice during internship “Southside was one of the first set of practices to take on the Rural Junior Doctor Innovation Fund, which is now called the John Flynn Prevocational Training Program. We're accredited for intern training, which means interns can do a 10-week rotation as part of their internship in our practice. Since then, Affinity Medical Centre in the Whitsundays and Awal Medical Centre in Sarina have also been accredited. “We know that interns make career choices based on what they’re exposed to in their prevocational years, so part of this program is exposing interns to general practice early in their career. We've had 17 interns come through over the time we've been accredited. “It's been a benefit to our practice, as well. When COVID broke out, the intern did a literature review on best practice in terms of patient flow in and out of the building. They helped set up our green clinic, which allowed us to keep face-to-face consultations. Anyone with respiratory complaints, which would match the criteria for COVID, is seen in a separate area to the practice to make sure there's no cross-contamination. The intern was helpful in getting that set up and it was a good research project.” A close-knit community “I think Mackay is a fantastic town in terms of enjoying your full scope of practice. the whole Mackay health region needs doctors. It's a good place to practise to the full extent of your training, which is satisfying. Mackay is small enough there are good relationships between the community and tertiary care hospital. In my role, I've got a hat in the hospital, but also in the community. I think there are some really good linkages in a town like ours where there are good close working relationships.” Find out more about training in Mackay.
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6 March 2023
The Pandemic President
Pictured: Dr Sarah Chalmers at the RMA22 Conference in Canberra, October 2022 (Image courtesy of ACRRM). When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, the rural medical workforce needed to rapidly respond and adapt. Guiding on-the-ground efforts were seasoned rural generalists like Dr Sarah Chalmers, President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). Taking the reins in late 2020, the JCU Senior Lecturer ensured the rural voice was heard in policy and strategic discussions that guided Australia’s health response to the pandemic. After completing her presidency term during the College’s RMA22 Conference in October last year, Dr Chalmers reflected on her time in the role, what she loves most about rural generalism and where her focus has shifted to now. Thank you for your time Dr Chalmers! Firstly, how did the opportunity to become ACRRM President come about? Over the years, I’ve had some amazing mentors through ACRRM, like A/Prof Ruth Stewart, Professor Lucie Walters, and Dr Maria Cowie. They’ve lived and breathed rural generalism for decades and were encouraging me to consider the role. It wasn’t a particular ‘life goal’ for me, but it has been an extraordinary experience and I wouldn’t change a thing! What was it like as president during COVID-19 and how did ACRRM respond to the pandemic? COVID-19 had been around for six or so months when I came in, but it was still quite an extraordinary time. I've been referred to as the ‘pandemic president’! It was back in the particularly scary stages of the pandemic when we didn't have a vaccination program, Australia still had closed borders and there wasn't very much domestic travel going on. There was certainly a lot of ‘rolling with the punches’ to adapt our college and registrars’ training during the pandemic. A benefit of being rural is that we were already well-experienced in delivering exams for registrars remotely. The other specialty colleges rely heavily on face-to-face, and we were the only college that had an uninterrupted exam cycle, which is something we are very proud of. ACRRM had a big part to play in the vaccine rollout, alongside the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA). Advocating for rural communities as part of this process was a big part of the first year of my presidency. Another significant COVID-related change to navigate was the introduction of Medicare rebates for telehealth appointments. Rural and remote doctors have been using telehealth for a long time, so we did quite a bit around best practices for ramping up the scale of telehealth and we produced some great resources to support practitioner education on telehealth services. Outside of COVID-19, what else did an ‘average’ day look like for you during your time as ACRRM President? The president's role is centred on advocating for rural health and participating in policy and strategic discussions. So, we were looking at some of the big questions facing our profession; how do we get more medical students to consider rural generalism? How do we encourage better teamwork between rural doctors and other health practitioners? How do we inform and direct national policy? There was a large body of work around the 10-Year Primary Care reform project, which has gone on to become the Strengthening Medicare Task Force. It's so important that rural voice be represented in these strategic and it has been a huge honour to speak on behalf of my colleagues at these forums. Beyond being president, my role as a rural generalist didn’t stop, and neither did my roles as a wife and a mum! Whenever someone gets to do something like this ACRRM opportunity, there is always somebody in the background keeping everything ticking away at home. I’m very thankful to be married to somebody who is so supportive and to my children who had to sacrifice a bit of mum-time during my ACRRM presidency!
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1 February 2023
JCU signs agreements with GP Colleges
JCU will have a role in delivering general practice training in regional Queensland from 2023. We are pleased to be continuing as a training delivery entity officially from today under the College-led training model, with JCU’s staff and structures committed to supporting ACRRM and RACGP.
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NQRTH is an initiative of the Australian Government's Integrated Rural Training Pipeline (IRTP) and is facilitated by James Cook University in partnership with public and private hospitals, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) and GP clinics.
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