What are your career goals?

Initially my aim is to garner as much experience in metropolitan and rural healthcare as possible and expand my knowledge of the health needs of rural communities and learn how I can best contribute to rural and Indigenous heath in the future.

I hope to work towards closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians. As my career progresses and my experience and knowledge grows, I aim to be involved in educating the next generation of doctors, contributing to medical education both within university and clinical practice. The most memorable placements in medical school are always those where the supervisors cared about you and strived to create a positive learning environment connecting theory and clinical practice. Teaching and supporting medical students to ensure that not just well-rounded doctors but well-rounded people are entering the workforce will allow continual progression and advancement of medicine and healthcare. I want to contribute to steering away from the old paternalistic approach to medicine and support students in developing their medical knowledge while maintaining work life balance.

What do you believe are the key attributes of a Rural Generalist?

A Rural Generalist (RG) is someone who can provide healthcare in a range of environments for patients from all walks of life. They embody cultural sensitivity and safety, are confident and have the drive to ensure health equity within Australian communities. Working rurally, it is so important to be equipped with the skills to tackle a situation where you may not have the specialist equipment of metropolitan hospitals or general practices.

You must be able to rely on yourself in the first instance as help may not always be immediately available. As a RG you will be part of the wider community and it is your responsibility to separate your medical role just enough to your community role while remaining caring, open, and committed to community wellbeing.  Most importantly, a rural generalist is committed to continual learning and professional development throughout their career.

What do you see the key differences are between practising in a city suburban area and practising in a rural or remote community?

In a rural or remote community there is less immediate professional support. You may be the only GP available in the community and any referrals you need to make may be hours away from your location, something to be especially mindful of when caring for patients. Accessibility to services is much more limited than in metropolitan areas and can impact how patients interact with healthcare. There is also more difficulty with separating yourself from people in the community. In metropolitan areas it is less likely that you will run into a patient at the supermarket or hairdressers, whereas in rural or remote areas, it’s likely you will be seeing your patients every day. You will be caring for your friends, neighbours and much of the community. To avoid all your patients in day-to-day life to maintain a strict doctor patient relationship would be incredibly isolating but would also impact how the community viewed you and their ability to trust you.

While it is common for GPs to see numerous members of the one family in metropolitan practice it is even more common that you’d see entire families, their friends, and their entire families and so on in rural practice. Everyone is connected and you must be diligent to protect each patient’s confidentiality with you other patients.

What do you think you could do to prepare for placement where you would be living and working in a rural or remote community?

One of the key preparations is to educate yourself. It’s not simply about the medicine. You need to be aware of the history of the town, the community values, the workforce, and the cultures within the town. To be able to provide adequate healthcare you need to understand the key determinants of health in the community, the socioeconomic background, the types of work available, accessibility to services and so much more.

Living in the community you’d need to be aware of the infrastructure and the accessibility. If you are running your own practice, how are you going to get key supplies? Who will your professional support system be? If you are working in a hospital, what are the hours? Who are you working with? What is the emergency protocol? Whilst much of this can be learned once you get there, preparation reduces the risk of mistakes and accidents significantly and should not be undervalued. 

What are you most looking forward to about attending RMA22 in Canberra?

I am honoured to be one of the recipients of the 2022 President’s Prize and am so excited to be heading to the conference in October to meet more people who are passionate about rural and Aboriginal health. This will be the first opportunity I’ve had to attend a medical conference and I can’t wait to meet everybody and hear from the incredible speakers that will be presenting over the three days.