The Best of Both Worlds

With idyllic fishing, hiking, and camping spots aplenty, the Cape and Torres Region offers an enviable coastal lifestyle, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Doctors who head to the Far North are discovering the training, research, and career advancement opportunities on offer in this Tropical Island Paradise.

Rural generalist registrar, Dr Joshua Baker travelled to the Cape from Outback Western Australia, enticed by adventure and a unique medical training experience. Based on Thursday Island (Waiben), Dr Baker works across hospital, primary health centre and outreach clinic settings.

“As soon as I saw doctors working on the island, I just thought they had the best job in the world. You’re getting to do a diverse range of clinical work in the emergency department in the hospital and out in remote clinics. These guys are at the forefront of primary care,” Dr Baker says.

"Thursday Island is a really interesting place to train because the doctors here have a range of different experiences and backgrounds. There are a lot of procedural cases here for the obstetricians and a lot of clinical experience in critical care. You also develop your problem-solving skills with logistical considerations of providing care to outer islands. The medical workforce here is focused on investing in the education of students and junior doctors.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Dr John Hall, Director of Medical Services – Western, Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service. Based at Weipa Integrated Health Service, Dr Hall says the training experience offered in the region sets junior doctors up for success.

“Places like Weipa, Thursday Island, and Cooktown are fantastic breeding grounds for doctors. You get exposure to a broad range of specialties and pathologies, and the maturity you gain is invaluable,” Dr Hall says. “You develop clinical autonomy earlier in your career, you’re placed in situations where you’re the first responder, and you’re taking responsibility.

“I’ve always found that candidates who cut their teeth in rural and remote sites become more advanced candidates clinically. I can assure you that clinical supervisors who are assessing your entry into specialty training value that experience as well.

 Dr Hall says that there is likely to be more non-GP specialists living and working in rural areas in the future.

“We're seeing this rollout across the country in places like Alice Springs, and in the Kimberley. We have a growing cohort of specialist doctors who live and work rural and remotely or provide outreach services. Doctors keen on specialty training should not discount rural and remote regions like the Cape.”

Another element of training in the Cape and Torres region helping doctors improve their prospects for competitive specialty pathways is through research.

“There are plenty of opportunities for research looking into models of care and improving health systems. It greatly strengthens the CVs of junior doctors to have this kind of meaningful research that would be impressive to most specialty training programs.

“The outcomes of research here aren’t just words on a page, it’s real-life translational impact for these communities in terms of implementing new services or improving access to care, demonstrably improving health outcomes,” Dr Hall says.

Additional Quotes:

“There are plenty of opportunities for research looking into models of care and improving health systems. Currently here in Weipa there is some great research going on with our Kidney Care team as they evaluate their new model of care. We’re also looking into perinatal outcomes and the importance of rural maternity services, which is about making sure that we’re maintaining a level of service and backing it up with research.

“We’re looking at the most efficient ways to deliver care closer to home in an evidenced-based way. There’s a strong demand for research and there are certainly many opportunities to sink your teeth into some great research in the Cape. There are also going to be several specific opportunities for people interested in Masters and PhD level research.

“You get a better understanding of your referral base and where the pathology comes from. And it makes a huge difference for rural communities to have specialists that understand the context of their situation. Rural patients need to have specialists who understand exactly where they're coming from and challenges of access remotely the challenges of transport. There’s so much value in that for the community.

“The opportunities with research allow junior doctors to buff their CV with meaningful research that would be impressive to most specialty training programs. But I think by far and away the biggest advantage would be the clinical maturity that you gain from spending at least a year or two in the bush on the way towards your specialty training.”

“Going forward there's likely to be more non-GP specialists living and working in rural areas. We're seeing this rollout across the country in places like Alice Springs, and up in the Kimberley. We have a growing cohort of specialist doctors who live and work rural and remotely or provide outreach services. Doctors keen on specialty training should definitely not discount rural and remote regions like the Cape to live and train.

“The specialties that are likely to be required in these regions into the future are things like general surgery, internal medicine, ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) services, obstetrics and general paediatrics. One of the attractions to working rurally as a specialist is you can be a general specialist whereas if you work in metropolitan areas, then often there's a tendency towards super and sub-specialisation which some people find less rewarding, and in regional areas is less sustainable.”

Discover GP training in northern and regional Queensland.