Student doctors ready to be thrown in the deep end as they begin year of regional medicine

A new cohort of passionate medical students say they are ready to be thrown in the deep end as they undertake valuable training across the region with the Rural Clinical School of WA. Six trainee doctors from the University of Notre Dame, Curtin University and University of Western Australia have been selected to complete a year’s worth of practical training and rotations across the hospital, GP and Aboriginal medical services. They will work in small teams with local academic staff, doctors, medical professionals and in health services including paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, Indigenous health and general practice. Notre Dame student Taylor Wellstead said he was looking forward to seeing what the year had in store. “I want to get involved as much as I can and when someone asks me if I’d like to step in and have a go to just say ‘yes’,” he said. “A lot of the time in these rural settings you get thrown in the deep end, which is why we’re all here I think.” Curtin student Piper Brown said she was ready to immerse herself into a regional community. “I found that if I was to do my second-last year of medical school in a regional clinical setting, I’d get a lot more exposure to things that are relevant to the Pilbara and Kimberley,” she said. “Being our first clinical year, it’s kind of a good opportunity to put those things that we’ve learned from the text books into practice and get to know patients and be able to build connections and rapport with the doctors. “I’m really interested in Aboriginal health, so being able to see that first-hand is really something that I’m looking forward to.” The students spent the first few days completing their orientation at the hospital.