Destination Medicine© 2020 podcast series launched
The Regional Training Hubs network is releasing new episodes of the Destination Medicine© podcast series at 1400 (EDST) on Wednesday 4 November. The Destination Medicine© podcast series has been designed to help those navigating the maze of choices along the path from medical school to fully-fledged doctor. With over 23 specialities, 81 fields of speciality practice and 86 speciality titles, young medical trainees face a difficult decision when it comes time to choose what area of medicine is for them. The new podcast series aims to address that in an engaging way.
The new Destination Medicine episodes will include a range of conversations with current doctors and specialists about their career choices, what they enjoy about their area of expertise and why they’ve chosen to work in various rural and regional locations.
“The podcasts provide another source of information in an accessible and creative way to help our emerging doctors make informed decisions about rural and regional training and their careers,” said Professor Ruth Stewart, the newly appointed National Rural Health Commissioner.
This is an exciting project for the network of Regional Training Hubs, which was created in 2017 by the Federal Government to, amongst other goals, better enable students and junior doctors intending to practice medicine rurally to complete most of their medical training within regional and rural areas.
“Regional Training Hubs work with organisations involved in medical education and training, including universities, various workplaces, and public and private hospitals,” added Prof Stewart. “We are all working to improve health outcomes for regional, rural and remote communities. This includes the coordination of all stages of medical training so our future doctors maximise their opportunities and hopefully undertake as much of their medical training as possible within our regional and rural areas. Destination Medicine © is just one of those initiatives.”
Episode 1 – Sarah Wenham – release date 4th November 2020
Whoever said a rural life would be quieter? Dr Sarah Wenham started her medical career in the city of Manchester in the UK. After qualifying in palliative care, she moved to Blackpool with a catchment area of 330,000 people. Then, to Australia and Broken Hill. The contrast couldn’t have been more extreme. But Sarah has embraced her role as the only specialist palliative care physician in this region of Australia. She’s loving it.
Episode 2 – Sarah Moore - release date 4th November 2020
Dr Sarah Moore covered huge tracks in her career development in WA. But she never lost track of her colleagues and mentors, nor of her love for obstetrics and the privilege, as she calls it, of bringing babies into the world. As a rural doctor at heart, Sarah has found her place in Busselton WA, but her expertise takes her far further afield.
Episode 3 – Paul Lunney - Look out for release on 18 November 2020
These days, Dr Paul Lunney considers himself a Jack of all trades – and that’s just how he likes it, using the wide skill set he’s developed to care for his patients at Dubbo Family Doctors in Dubbo, New South Wales. He finds his GP role incredibly rewarding and he loves living and working in such a welcoming rural community. Yet a rural setting wasn’t quite what he had in mind when he set out in his GP training. Everything changed when, as a third year medical student, he took a placement in Dubbo. He loved it, wanted to stay, and returned after qualification to settle in Dubbo as a practising GP.
Episode 4 – Mark Arnold - Look out for release on 2 December 2020
Associate Professor Mark Arnold is the Head of the School of Rural Health Dubbo/Orange, as well as a practising rheumatologist in Western New South Wales. In fact, Mark Arnold has so many roles in his extraordinarily busy life that it’s hard to know how he fits everything in. He loves the rural life – something he would suggest anyone interested in medicine should consider. If the opportunity arises, he says, give it a go! But for all his achievements in the field of medicine today, Mark Arnold will tell us that life didn’t start out so auspiciously, and medicine was not top of the list of career choices when he was still a young lad.
