"Before joining the Extended Rural Cohort (ERC), I’d always been a Melbourne student, but the diversity of smaller cities and towns that make up wider Australia has always fascinated me. I was excited to get to live and study in new towns on my placements with Monash Rural Health, spending a year in Mildura, followed by semesters in Bendigo and Maryborough.

Students can be quite apprehensive about making the move to the country for a General Practice rotation, with the increased placement responsibility while living in a small town, several hours from friends or family. For me, knowing that I’d only have 3-4 days of uni per week meant that suddenly I had lots of time to immerse myself in the community life of a small rural town.

I took all the opportunities I could to get involved, working at a local bistro where I often bumped into patients I’d met at clinic, while also volunteering around town. At the local high school I met students, teachers and parents to discuss studying a health science degree at uni. At the local community house, I helped to serve meals at a community lunch group, and befriended some of the other volunteers there. Stepping outside of the clinical environment helped showcase the spirit of giving and community that makes up rural towns, as locals are very proud to live where they do. It felt very easy to call Maryborough home for a semester!

Each day in the clinic, I’d run 10-20 consultations and see my own patients, which allowed me to become comfortable over the semester with the diversity of presentations that walk through the door in General Practice. Consulting in Maryborough meant I gained confidence in prescribing medications and doing procedures like skin excisions and biopsies under the guidance of my supervising GPs. I also got to scrub into procedures in the adjoining hospital, staffed, of course, by the multi-talented GPs that were also anaesthetists, surgeons and obstetricians!

Clinically, a highlight included experiencing the continuity of care that being a GP offers - sometimes difficult to find in an impersonal hospital setting. Memorable cases included conducting an antenatal check before a newborn delivery, followed by assisting in a successful c-section delivery at the adjoining hospital, followed by a baby check 6 weeks later! Other examples included following another patient’s journey during a cancer diagnosis and their resulting surgical management, and welcoming a patient back into the clinic to remove sutures that I’d inserted the week before!

The independence given to medical students at rural practices such as Maryborough is an incredible learning experience that I wish all students could get exposure to. Living and working in a rural town teaches you more than just medicine – it gifts you insight into the complexities of an individual’s life and the challenges they face, it shows you the resilience and strength of rural communities and that sometimes the most fulfilling life is one in which you give back to the place you call home.

Due to the total hands-on nature of this placement, I can envision myself pursuing GP training in the future, and I believe having greater availability of immersive placements like this would be an excellent step in encouraging trainee doctors to choose a career in General Practice.

I am excited to get to train and work Australia-wide, and hope to do a mixture of rural and metropolitan general training years all across the country. Whilst just one person alone cannot solve the rural workforce shortage, I hope to always be an advocate for the personal and professional growth and fulfilment that a career in rural health can offer!"

Learn more about the Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine

Learn more about the End-to-End Rural Cohort